Country Roads
by aynechan
Summary: Two weeks of vacation in Rome, in courtesy of Eriol. What can happen? Who is Kaji and why is Sakura so afraid of him...? Find out why and what happens to our couples in the end. Will they stay together or will something else happen? SS & ET
1. Country Roads… Where? !

**COUNTRY ROADS**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Hello there once again! I'm back with yet another story…In this story, Sakura and the others are all in high school, except for Eriol that is… You'll know why in the story… Well anyway, here's the summary of the story…

**SUMMARY: **Traveling for almost half of his life, Eriol finds the perfect place to bring his friends after they graduate from high school. 2 weeks in Rome was his gift to them. What can happen in the city of Rome for 2 whole weeks? Will Sakura and Syaoran fall in love with each other after being best friends for who knows how long? Or will their friendship tear apart and they would finally decide to move on in separate paths… Surely, the country roads of Rome will change everything…

And so, there's the summary of the story… I hope you guys would like it… Anyway, on we go…

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Card Captor Sakura… Only the story at this point is mine…

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**CHAPTER ONE: COUNTRY ROADS… WHERE!**

"Get back here!" a hazelnut haired teenager, high school student to be exact, was yelling while running around chasing a guy, who was his best friend, around town. Somehow, he managed to get her bag without her knowing that she wasn't even wearing it on her back when they were on their way to the supermarket to do some errands. She only noticed it when she was looking for her wallet. They ended up buying nothing from the supermarket due to the fact that he didn't want to give her wallet back.

The guy, who was also a teenager and in high school, had chestnut colored hair, turned around, ran backwards while he was sticking his tongue out to the girl.

Tired of running around, the girl stopped and yelled once again, "Li Syaoran, if you don't give that back I'm going to call your mother and tell her all about this!" Being best friends for as long as they can remember, she is so much close to his family like she was already a part of it.

Afraid of his mother scolding him, he stopped and walked towards the girl who was a few meters away. "I'm sorry Sakura… I was just kidding around…" he said as he gave her back her backpack.

Sakura then grabbed her backpack, smooched Syaoran in the cheek and ran for her life with a smirk in her face. They had been like that since they were little kids but Syaoran had never learned his lesson from Sakura's threats. After returning the stuff that he got from her, she would kiss him in the cheek, run for her life while he chased her. But, for them, it didn't mean anything.

Syaoran kept on chasing Sakura until they were too tired to continue. They stopped by the bridge and leaned on the railings, laughing. "You never learn, Syaoran…" Sakura managed to say in between her giggles.

He looked at her after calming down and pinched her in her right cheek as she was still laughing herself out. But that move made her stop laughing and glare at him. She hated it when he did that. She doesn't know the reason why, but since Syaoran knew that she hated it, he kept on doing it.

"You know I hate it when you do that so stop it…" Sakura said.

"But, tell me the reason why you hate it. I don't even understand, Sakura… I let you kiss me in the cheek but you hate it when I pinch you in the cheek…" Syaoran asked her.

Sakura was staring at the river under them. She really didn't know why she kept on kissing him. Why she even started it in the first place. But he pinching her was a big deal for her. "I don't know, Syaoran… I too can't find the reason why I hate it…" she explained.

"Oh there they are!" a girl yelled from the other side of the bridge. She was Daidouji Tomoyo, Sakura's middle school best friend and still is until now.

Sakura and Syaoran looked her way and saw her with a guy who seemed to have a navy blue hair and had glasses. At first, since they were a bit far from them, they can't make out who the guy was. But as Tomoyo and the guy walked towards them, they finally saw who it was. "Eriol! When did you arrive!" Sakura yelled as she ran towards Eriol not waiting for them to reach their position.

Syaoran on the other hand walked towards them. "Yo… When did you arrive…? I hope you didn't though…" he said sarcastically.

"Yeah…" Eriol said as he broke Sakura's hug. "I just arrived today. Tomoyo picked me up from the airport. Anyway, I have news for you guys!"

Sakura, who didn't seem to hear his last sentence, asked him, "So, how was your last trip? Where was it again? Italy?"

Eriol had constantly been traveling around the world. He's done with school since he was too much accelerated from year to year, much like his father. His last trip was around the continent of Europe and his last stop was the Italy before he went back home. "Yeah… It went well… It was really nice there… So anyway, like I said, I have news for you guys…" he said again.

"It is still the same there? I mean, I went there before when we took the trip around this continent." Syaoran said, pretending this time on not hearing his last sentence, irritating him.

"OH FOR PITT SAKE…! Can you guys listen to me for just one minute!" Eriol said. He was already irritated for being interrupted for 2 times. He doesn't have that much patience as Tomoyo would say if you would ask her what was the matter with him.

Syaoran smirked at this cause he knew what irritates his cousin so much. Meanwhile, Sakura didn't know about it so she was showering Eriol with apologies. "I'm really sorry Eriol… I didn't hear your last sentence when I asked you those questions. I'm really, really sorry… I was just too excited for my own good… And that may have caused me to ask you…I –" she said. But before she could continue on, before she knew it, Syaoran had his right arm around her and was covering her mouth with his palm.

"So, what was it you were about to say dear cousin?" Syaoran asked. "I think it would be better hearing that than hearing infinite apologies from this woman here…" Syaoran said.

Eriol and Tomoyo both giggled at this. Tomoyo, as usual, had her trusty video cam with her just in time to tape the moment. Sakura bit Syaoran's hand which made him yell a bit, moving his hands up and down continuously. "FYI Li Syaoran, I really didn't know that he was that fast to annoy… Maybe he wouldn't have been annoyed if you didn't give a follow-up question." Sakura said as she snobs Syaoran after saying those words.

Syaoran once again got the chance to pinch her on her cheeks. But this time, both cheeks. This caused Sakura to run after him again. Knowing that they won't have this conversation at this time, Eriol and Tomoyo retreated to Eriol's house and had some tea.

After a while, as if they knew that they were there, Sakura and Syaoran showed up in Eriol's house with Eriol and Tomoyo in the middle of a "happy" talk cause they sure were laughing hard.

Sakura and Syaoran sat beside each other as they waited for Eriol and Tomoyo to calm down before asking what happened. But, they got no answer from them. "Anyway, like I said before, I have news for you guys…" Eriol said. But, before he could even continued, he first stopped for a minute or two to wait for them to react of maybe they would like to say something first before he tells his news. After, and no one said anything, he finally sighed and is telling the news, "Since I really loved it so much in Rome, and I got free accommodations in the best Hotel there and said that I could bring 3 guests, maybe it's time for you guys to take your graduation trip. Not my treat cause it'll also be like mine since I didn't have one…"

Graduation trip… Yeah… Sakura, Syaoran and Tomoyo are graduating a week later. They planned to go on a trip out of town but they never expected it to be out of the country. "Uh… Eriol… Where will we get the money to go there? I mean, it's not like it's just 100 yen to go there, right?" Sakura said.

"That one's mine. Not only did I get free accommodations, I also got free passes. My dad sorta got this job there that offered him these because he was doing so well." Eriol explained. Yeah… He lives in Japan only with his older sister, Nakuru. His parents are in England working.

All he could get at first was an "oh" from the three of them. But after a few more seconds, they all started to jump as high as they could and started hugging and thanking Eriol. They all seemed to need this vacation, except for Eriol that is. They had gone through a tough year because of all the paper works that were assigned to them.

"So, when to we leave?" Tomoyo asked. Syaoran had no problem with this since he lived alone. His parents finally allowed him to stay in Japan. They promised that they would never disturb him again cause they have another heir to their business there.

Sakura on the other hand, has some problems with her oh-so-protective brother. But her father would be alright with it, she guesses… and hopes.

Tomoyo, she would just have to ask her mom about it. And she also hopes that it'll be alright as long as Sakura's with her.

"As soon as you guys are ready. As you can see, I haven't even unpacked yet…" Eriol said as he pointed to his baggage on the foyer.

Sakura was the first one to stand up saying, "Oh… so I have to go home then… I still have to argue this, you know… Touya…" having a 'you-know' look in her face before turning around to leave the house.

Syaoran stood up slowly and said, "I'll to go pack then." Turned around and left, running over to Sakura before she could even walk further.

Tomoyo was the next to leave saying that she still had to pack and tell her mother about all this.

Eriol was once again left in his house. Nakuru was out to work as a nurse and is taking the night shift now so he'll be alone for a couple of days.

o-o-o-o-o- SAKURA -o-o-o-o-o

Sakura had a big smile plastered on her face. Syaoran noticed this. "So excited about the trip, huh?" he said.

"Who wouldn't be? I mean, I get to travel! WE get to travel together! Oh, I'm so excited!" Sakura said with an over excited voice emphasizing the word 'we'.

"Geez… Can't you at least hide your excitement for just one minute?" Syaoran asked.

Sakura looked at him and said after a few seconds of thinking, "No…" then she gave him a smile.

'_She looks cute…'_ he though… _'WHAT! What the hell are you talking about!'_ he yelled back.

Sakura noticed that his expression was like he was thinking so hard and yet he can't find the answer to what he was thinking. "Syaoran, are you okay?" she asked.

Moving out of his river of thoughts, Syaoran answered her, "Yeah…. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know… Too excited, perhaps?" Sakura said.

"Yeah right… Come on… I have to take you home…" Syaoran said which surprised Sakura.

'_Since when did he have to take me home?' _Sakura asked herself but she let it pass. She was already way too happy to not let this pass. _'Oh well…' _Sakura thought once again which made her smile.

Syaoran noticed this. "Oh my… Someone's gone crazy here… Better get outta here and fast!" he said jokingly. But, he did try to walk fast than Sakura.

She then looked up to Syaoran before he can even go faster. "Hey! I resent being called crazy!" she yelled then running after him, again. And once again, they were chasing each other.

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**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** And so there it is… I hope you guys liked it and I hope that you could leave a review… Flames are accepted… just please review this story for me to know if any really liked the plot… I have more in store actually… So, I really, really hope that you'd like it…

For future updates of the story of you are interested, you can visit my blog and see if I have some progress in it…

Anyway, that's it for now… I've got to sleep cause it had been a rough day for me…

Oh and by the way, I forgot to greet you guys a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR in my last chapter of "That Little Notebook"… hehe… anyway, so there it is… :D


	2. Confessions and Realizations

**COUNTRY ROADS**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Hello! I'm back again with yet another chapter. Sorry to keep you guys waiting for those who are reading this fanfic. And also, thanks to those who reviewed the 1st chapter. I just hope that you guys would enjoy this chapter.

O – dbzgtfan2004  
O – Christine

By the way, I would like to thank my friend, julian, who proofread this chapter for me... :D Arigatou! Hehehe….

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Card Captor Sakura. At this point, only the story belongs to me.

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**LAST CHAPTER:**

She then looked up to Syaoran before he can even go faster. "Hey! I resent being called crazy!" she yelled then running after him, again. And once again, they were chasing each other.

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**CHAPTER TWO: CONFESSIONS AND REALIZATIONS**

There were three figures that can be seen from the outside of the Kinomoto household if one would pass by. Two tall figures that looked like guys and one was a teenager who had long hair so obviously, it was a girl. One of the guys seemed to be calm while the other looked like he was raging mad and the girl was defending to whatever they were arguing about.

If one would move closer to the house, he would actually hear voices. They were yelling to each other, arguing about something that seemed related to what the girl had just said since she was defending.

Inside, you'd actually lose your ear drums from all the yelling. The calm guy already had his hands on his ears, protecting it from the yells of the other two.

"YOU ARE NOT GOING!" he said once again. Well, that line had been yelled for the nth time that night since the girl proposed her travel.

"Touya! Dad already agreed! QUIT IT! I'M LEAVING AND WILL BE GONE FOR TWO WEEKS!" she said.

Touya, Kinomoto Sakura's older brother seemed to find the situation not agreeable. He really didn't want his sister to travel with "the gaki". "N-O, NO! IS that UNDERSTOOD!" he yelled once again.

The calm guy then stood up. He was already fed up. He had been hearing this for a lot of times the whole night since his daughter announced their vacation. "ENOUGH. Touya, I already agreed. Stop arguing already. I'm already deaf and the neighbors might call the police. I don't want that happening, okay?" Kinomoto Fujitaka said. He was Sakura's and Touya's father. Their mother passed away when Sakura was 3 years old. Rumors say that she killed herself. But, the truth is, she had cancer and no one knew until she died. She refused to go to check-ups and was as stubborn as her son.

"But…" Touya started. But, before he could continue, Fujitaka smiled at him. Calm as he might look like, he was already fed up with them fighting all the time. He was one calm person and would be rarely seen angry and, he never shows his anger. He shows a smile instead. "Fine… Go with the gaki. But when something happens, don't come to me crying." He said then he left the room and went back to his room upstairs.

"Why would I! Nothing would happen!" Sakura said before Touya could even step up the stairs. Little did she know that something would happen in the little city of Rome.

That night after the long argument, Sakura started packing happily while she was at the phone with Tomoyo. She was telling everything that she and Touya ranted about that night before leaving her to her father's decision.

"You won't believe it Tomoyo. I almost ran out of things to defend! I mean, I am graduating from high school soon and still he won't allow me!" Sakura said. "So, were you allowed to come?" she asked her.

Tomoyo, at the other line, was also packing. She told her mother a few minutes after Sakura told her that she was allowed to go. The fact that she had someone, particularly someone her mother knows and is a girl, to be with, she was permitted. "As long as I am with you, she'd allow me… You know her… But of course, there are things that she allows me to go to even though you aren't there… " she said with a giggle after.

The two talked to each other all night while both of them were packing their stuff and after. They both thought of some possible things that they might see there, like the Vatican and the other old churches there for example.

That night, at the Li residence, Syaoran tried to examine his thoughts. He had been training for the past 5 years before leaving Hong Kong and staying in Japan. He had been taught that if he was having doubts on some things, he should examine his thoughts. At this point, he was having doubts about what he thinks of his best friend. Earlier, he thought that she was cute when she smiled. Of course, it is normal for a person to think that a certain girl is cute even though if it was your best friend. But after rethinking, he noticed that something seemed to be missing inside him. He hasn't felt this before so he doesn't really know what to do about it.

He had already finished packing 2 hours ago. He didn't have anyone to argue with since his mother didn't actually care where he went or what he did. She promised him before that they wouldn't bother him anymore after his training.

After thinking hard, he finally lay down on his bed and closed his eyes. Finally deciding, he slept his other worries away. He was going to keep, whatever feelings he has, to himself.

o-o-o-o-o- THE NEXT DAY -o-o-o-o-o

Tomoyo called Eriol and told her that she and Sakura were allowed to come. Eriol once again invited the three of them to come over to his house. An hour later, Tomoyo and Sakura arrived only to see Syaoran already there.

After entering the house, they all went to the living room and talked about their plans. Eriol and Syaoran, having been there, were the ones deciding on their schedule while the two girls were stating the places that they wanted to visit. Syaoran was deciding on his and Sakura's schedule and Eriol was doing his and Tomoyo's. Yup, they would go in pairs. Even though there are some places that Sakura and Tomoyo both wanted to visit, they still decided to go in pairs. But of course, there will still be a time when they all will be going to one place together. And that'll be only when they go and visit other places other than Rome, like Venice for example.

They had set their schedule in the sense that they won't meet in a certain place. Eriol wanted to spend some time with Tomoyo since he was planning something. Syaoran still decided to stick to his plan by not showing off too much emotion. But, luck wasn't on his side. Every time Sakura would lean on him when she feels all floaty, he would blush and would slowly move his shoulder backwards leaving Sakura with a confused look on her face. _What's wrong with him… He didn't do that before…_ was on her mind.

After deciding on their schedules, Eriol announced, "We leave tomorrow."

Everyone stared at him with big eyes. "WHAT!" they all said in unison.

"Well, since you guys had already packed for the trip and I still haven't unpacked my stuff, we can all leave tomorrow." He explained.

"Just a sec… We aren't graduates until Wednesday? We still have to go to school until then! It's going to be 3 days till graduation, Eriol…" Syaoran explained.

Eriol forgot that they weren't graduates yet. They still had to march and get their diplomas this coming Wednesday. "Ahehe… Whops…. Sorry… Forgot about that…" he said.

"Maybe we can leave the day after..?" Sakura suggested.

After agreeing with their planned leave and schedules, Sakura kept Syaoran and her schedule while Tomoyo kept theirs.

"So, by the time we get there, what'll we do?" Tomoyo asked. Having traveled a lot herself, she was used to going shopping after arriving to the place.

Eriol looked at Tomoyo like she was crazy or something. "Of course we'll rest… We'll be touring the next day…" he said.

Sakura then asked Eriol, "You've already saw these places right? Why go again?"

"Like I said, I liked it there." Eriol explained again. "And besides, I wanna be anywhere as long as she's with me…"

Tomoyo, having a crush for Eriol for who knows how long, boiled in anger. "Who?" she asked, trying to keep her emotions in check.

Sakura and Syaoran, knowing what the two feel for each other, started to giggle. Then, they excused themselves to crack up at the kitchen.

Eriol, wanting to see what Tomoyo would do, tried to joke around. "Let's see…" he began. "She's someone I've known for who knows how long. She's someone who I've been dreaming of being with since I've laid my eyes on her."

Tomoyo, starting to explode, closed her eyes and had an angry expression on her face. _WHO IS THAT GIRL? _She thought.

"And, let's see… She has long hair and has the most beautiful eyes that I had ever seen. Oh, by the way, we met then because of her best friend. And yeah, she's here, present in this house." Eriol said.

Sakura and Syaoran were now eves dropping, done laughing. They had their heads sticking out of the kitchen door, enough to hear Eriol and Tomoyo's conversation. "Look's like Tomoyo's about to explode!" Sakura whispered then started to giggle again.

"I hate to admit it but they do look cute together, don't you agree?" Syaoran said. Sakura, upon hearing Syaoran suddenly saying that comment, looked at him, confused. "What!" he said after noticing her looking at him.

"Look who's talking… You never had any comment like that… That was the first! I should have recorded it…!" Sakura said.

Thinking about what he said, Syaoran suddenly gave a silly giggle. "You know, people tend to change whenever they have been with someone crazy…"

"Hey! Take that back!" Sakura said.

After smiling at Sakura, Syaoran once again pinched her cheeks and ran away being chased by, once again, Sakura.

o-o-o-o-o- ERIOL AND TOMOYO -o-o-o-o-o

Realizing that only Sakura and her are present at the moment in the Hiiragizawa household, and realizing that Sakura didn't have long hair, she suddenly blushed. Speechless, she just looked down at her hands.

Noticing that she had already figured it out, Eriol gently placed his right hand on Tomoyo's left cheek for her to look at him. Then, Eriol closed in the gap in between them and kissed her passionately.

Tomoyo, on the other hand, had felt like she was in heaven. Hey, her crush as kissing her! At first, she didn't know what to do, but soon responded and kissed him back. After a few seconds, they broke apart and looked at each other.

o-o-o-o-o- SAKURA AND SYAORAN -o-o-o-o-o

Both of them reached the backyard and still were tired from running. They ran around the huge backyard, laughing all the way. Even though Syaoran was the one being chased, Sakura wasn't that much far behind him. She was actually just around a foot away from him.

After a few more minutes of running around, Sakura finally gave up and sat at the grass. "I'm tired!" she yelled out.

Syaoran didn't notice at first that Sakura slowed down, he then looked at his back to see if Sakura was catching up. But he saw that she was already lying down on the grass. He then slowed down and walked towards her breathing heavily from running around too much. "Never thought you'd give up." He said after sitting down beside her.

Sakura, taking the opportunity, hugged Syaoran tightly. "Gotcha!" she said.

"Hey!" Syaoran said as he tried to get rid of Sakura from hugging him. But, it didn't work. Even though he is stronger than Sakura, he totally was too much attracted to her eyes. He was drowned by those emerald pools that she kept.

Suddenly, he stopped moving and was just staring at her. Sakura noticed this so she broke her hug and looked at him. "What's the matter? Too tired?" she said.

"Nah… I was just thinking about something…" he said.

"Yeah…? What is that?" she asked once again.

He thought about it for a while. Losing his friendship with her would be too much to sacrifice. Though keeping his feelings to himself would be another thing to sacrifice. "Nothing…" was the response he gave her.

He know knew that he didn't want her to be just his best friend. Though he didn't want to admit it, he was falling, falling hard… He just doesn't know it. Day by day, those pools would drown him and make him fall. He didn't want to sacrifice the friendship they have. Still, he will continue on with what he had decided even though he hasn't realized much. Falling for his best friend was something he didn't expect to happen.

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**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **And there you go, the 2nd chapter.. I really hope that you guys would leave a review for me to know if you liked the plot or something. So once again, thanks for reading this chapter and I hope that you enjoyed…

Gotta go… This had been a day for me… And I was spending it alone for the 1st time… Was fun actually… hehe…

Please leave a review…


	3. Touya's List

**COUNTRY ROADS**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **The next chapter… I hope that you are enjoying this fic… Please leave a review… I'm really desperate to know whether someone is really reading my fic… Anyway, thank you to the only reviewer of the last chapter… And, on with the story…

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Card Captor Sakura….

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**LAST CHAPTER:**

Knowing that now, he didn't want her to be just his best friend. Though he didn't want to admit it, he was falling, falling hard… He just doesn't know it. Day by day, those pools would drown him and make him fall. He didn't want to sacrifice the friendship they have. Still, he will continue on with what he had decided even though he hasn't realized much. Falling for his best friend was something he didn't expect to happen.

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**CHAPTER THREE: TOUYA'S LIST**

Having the thought of graduating the next day, Kinomoto Sakura wasn't able to sleep well. It was 1 o'clock in the morning and yet, she was still awake, trying to get herself to sleep. She was still staring at the ceiling, with her lights out making the room dark. Once in a while, she would close her eyes hoping that she would soon drift to sleep. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Sighing in defeat, she stood up and stared up at the night's sky, thinking.

"Syaoran…" she mumbled.

Somehow, he doesn't know why either, Li Syaoran couldn't sleep. There's a possibility because he was thinking too much about graduation, or, the trip to Rome with Sakura. He wasn't trying to get to sleep like what Sakura did. He, on the other hand, was sitting at his balcony staring at the night's sky as well.

"Sakura…" he mumbled.

The next day, Syaoran found himself waking up with the sun light directly shining on his face. He can also hear his alarm clock ringing. It was already graduation day, their graduation day. By tomorrow, they'll be flying off to Rome. Still feeling sleepy, Syaoran stood up and walked towards the bathroom to get ready. In a few hours, he's going to be a high school graduate.

With their faces getting closer, Sakura closed her eyes waiting to feel what she had wanted to feel for so long. Syaoran's face was an inch away from hers.

"SAKURA!" someone yelled with a matching throw of a pillow to her waking her up.

"What!" surprised, Sakura jumped up. She found herself sitting by her bed with her arms by the window. Obviously, she slept there.

Finally awake, she looked at her clock. Quarter to 8. Her eyes widened as she saw the time, graduation ceremony starts at 8:30. "HHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" as she was yelling, she ran around her room grabbing the things that she was going to wear and ran towards the bathroom.

Being left unnoticed by his sister, Touya sighed and started to fix Sakura's room. He knew that she won't be able to fix it since it was already time and she'll be late if she doesn't hurry up.

After taking her bath, she quickly ran to get her things upstairs, greeting Touya on her way, which was walking towards his room to get ready as well. He and Yukito will work that day but they'll be at the graduation since their work would be in the high school.

Running once again towards the kitchen, Sakura greeted her father who already had the table set with Sakura's favorite dish, pancakes.

"Ohayo, Sakura… And, congratulations…" Fujitaka said as his daughter entered the kitchen.

Sakura returned a smile to her father and greeted him as well. Then she turned around to greet another. It seems like she wasn't greeting a person, instead, she greeted the picture of her deceased mother. Even though the Kinomoto house doesn't have a mother to be with, they still feel her with them and were never sad to lose her. They are all reminded of the words that she said before she died. _"Take care of yourselves… I'll always be with you even though you can't see me…"_ Then she closed her eyes and went to sleep… an eternal sleep for that matter…

Daidouji Tomoyo, having been awake for an hour and getting ready for her graduation ceremony that morning, left her house early. By the time she got there, she scanned the area for Sakura. Failing to see her, she started to worry. It was already 15 minutes past 8 at that time.

A few minutes later, Syaoran approached Tomoyo, tapping her at her shoulders making her jump. "Are you nuts!" Tomoyo said after seeing that it was Syaoran who tapped her shoulder.

"What? I was just going to say good morning… Looks like you don't have a good morning then…" Syaoran said.

Sighing, Tomoyo answered Syaoran, "Look, I do have a nice morning. It's just that I'm worried about Sakura. She's not here yet…"

Scanning the area and not finding Sakura, Syaoran started to think of the possibilities that could make her late. Either they were stuck in traffic if they used her father's car, they walked too slow if they did walk, or she woke up late.

"Ohayo, Tomoyo-san…" Eriol greeted, coming out of no where.

Syaoran not knowing that he was there was startled and then glared at him. Tomoyo, on the other hand, saw Eriol as he approached Syaoran's back. "Ohayo, Eriol-kun." She greeted back.

"Where's Sakura-chan?" he asked. Both Syaoran and Tomoyo shrugged.

Five minutes before starting the ceremony, Tomoyo searched again for her best friend. What she didn't notice was that she was already beside her. "Ohayo, Tomoyo-chan…" Sakura greeted with a smile.

Once again startled, Tomoyo almost strangled Sakura. She hated being startled. "Where have you been!" Tomoyo stated. "We've been looking all over for you!" she continued.

"Well, you see, I couldn't sleep last night so I kinda slept in a bit a while ago…" she explained.

"I knew it… Never change, huh Kinomoto…" Syaoran said as he approached Sakura from the back and putting his right arm over her shoulder.

"Do not! I change!" Sakura stated.

Syaoran stared at Sakura as if knowing something that she didn't. "Oh yeah? And in what aspect is that, my dear?" he asked.

"YO! TWERP! GET YOUR GRIMY LITTLE HANDS OFF MY SISTER!" They heard Touya yell off from their booth at the other side of the campus.

Embarrassed by her brother's actions, Sakura blushed and hid her face at the back of Syaoran where she was so sure she wasn't seen. They were in front of a tree anyway.

Like he didn't hear anything, Syaoran didn't remove his arm that was around Sakura. Even though it seemed like he wasn't comfortable with Sakura hiding behind his back and his arm around her, he left it there as if she belonged to him.

Far away, Touya could see that he didn't even budge. His blood started to boil when suddenly his father tapped him at his shoulder. "Leave them be…" he said.

"Demo…!"

Once again, his father just smiled at him. Knowing that he can't do anything with his father's friendly smile, he sighed in defeat.

o-o-o-o-o- AFTER THE GRADUATION -o-o-o-o-o

Sakura, Syaoran, Tomoyo and Eriol were all with their friends. Yup, Eriol is a part of their circle because he did study there for a few weeks. They were all congratulating each other and giving their last hugs before they all went to their separate lives to college. Mihara Chiharu was going to a music school where she was accepted for scholarship. Sasaki Rika was going to take interior designing abroad, Yanagizawa Naoko was now an author but wanted to continue on with her studies as a Lawyer and will be studying at Harvard University, and lastly, Yamazaki Takashi was accepted at Sendai University taking up medicine.

After giving them a few minutes to spend with each other, Fujitaka, Sonomi, Touya and Yukito finally approached them and congratulating them as well. Giving them the permission to have the night out together for one last time together, our group went to the nearest hangout place that they could find.

As they all started to walk out of the campus, Touya realized that there will come a time that he can't protect his sister anymore, not for long at least. But he wanted to make sure that until that time, he did and he will find someone that can protect her and will know that that person will never ever hurt his sister. Right now, all he had was Li Syaoran in the list. He was his only choice. He only had a few more months to live… Better make the decision, and fast…

o --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

This time, they hung out at Lanai, a famous hangout place for high school students, especially from their school. The place was full a few minutes after they got in. They were lucky enough to get out of the school so early.

"So, what are you guys planning for the summer?" Naoko asked Tomoyo and Sakura.

"ROMA!" they both yelled trying their best to pronounce it the way the people in Rome would after smiling at each other.

Naoko, Chiharu, Rika and Yamazaki were all shocked. "What! Rome!"

"Hai, hai!" they still both said at the same time and still smiling.

Eriol, who was listening, explained to them why they'll be in Rome for the next two weeks. "You guys are so lucky! Oh! By the way, did you know… mfamafmamffamggmafmmgaam…" Yamazaki said with Chiharu's hand covering his mouth after hearing the words "did you know" coming out of his mouth.

Syaoran, who just came back from the rest rooms, sat beside Sakura and had his arm once again around her. Sakura didn't mind this. He was her best friend after all.

"So, what are we going to do?" Syaoran asked.

"Nothing much…" Chiharu said. "Hey Syaoran, you and Sakura dating?" she asked bluntly.

Before answering her question, Sakura and Syaoran stared at each other. After a few seconds, they both cracked up. "Is something wrong with my question?" Chiharu asked the others who were staring at Sakura and Syaoran.

"Nah… They just think that they don't like each other even though they know that deep in their hearts they do…" Tomoyo and Eriol explained to them silently that only they could hear it, and not Sakura and Syaoran who were still laughing by the way.

They had decided to go on a road trip that afternoon. Syaoran had Sakura, Tomoyo and Eriol in his car and Yamazaki had the others in his. They drove around Tomoeda, Tokyo and even reached Chiba because they were totally having fun. Both Yamazaki and Syaoran had convertible cars and they also both had their tops down which made the girls enjoy the trip more.

They arrived back home at around 8 in the evening. At that one day trip, they were able to see some parts of Japan that they haven't seen before. As one whole group, they were thankful that they met each other along the paths of their lives. As the clock stroke 8:30, they all gathered around the entrance of their former high school. Saying one last goodbye to the school where they all gained friends, where they all laughed, cried and shared moments with each other. Sure they were going to miss those times. But, they all promised that there will be a time that they'll all gather around again, in the same grounds to where they are now with lives so different from each other. So different from the lives that they all have now. All different and yet, they will still be together as friends.

"So, I guess we'll be seeing each other after a few years, huh…" Yamazaki stated, for once being serious and had a serious look in his face.

Tomoyo looked at Eriol. Tomoyo was going abroad to study. She didn't know if Eriol could wait for her any longer or, if he did consider them having any relationship at all. "Yeah… I guess…" she said now looking at the ground. Eriol saw her expression. He then moved closer to her and hugged her tight. "Don't worry…" was all he could say. Sure, he had something in mind.

"You guys go on your own… I still have someone to tease on…" Syaoran said while he had once again placed his arm around Sakura. Sakura on the other hand like the thought that she wasn't all alone in entering college. But the thought that her best friend who did nothing but tease her had to be with her through college life somehow didn't look peaceful to her. "Mou… Syaoran!" she said.

The others laughed at their childish attitudes. They always had fun watching Sakura and Syaoran chase each other after school or maybe during lunch. They all thought that it was so cute that they were really meant to be together.

"Well then, you guys still have to wake up early for your flight…" Rika said. "I guess we all should return home and take our rest."

After bidding their goodbyes and for the last time, at least for now, another group hug. And they all started to walk to different directions.

o --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

Walking towards Sakura's house, Sakura and Syaoran didn't stop talking. They were talking about their bet tomorrow. If Sakura was late, she'll have to pay for Syaoran's breakfast. On the other hand, if she wasn't, he'll have to buy her anything she liked in Rome. As they reached Sakura's house, someone was watching over them from the living room.

Upon seeing Sakura open the gate and still talking to Syaoran, he stood up and walked over to the door.

When Sakura heard the door open and saw her brother standing there, not glaring at Syaoran for the first time since he came to Tomoeda, Sakura started to get nervous.

"I need to talk to you…" he said. Both of them didn't know who he wanted to talk to. But, since he really doesn't talk to Syaoran in that way, Sakura assumed that she was the person he was talking to.

"Just a sec… We can talk inside you know…" she replied.

"No you Kaijuu… Him" he said.

Both Sakura and Syaoran had their mouths animatedly drop. "O-okay…?" Sakura said and didn't know whether she should go inside or stay behind for something not good might happen.

"Inside, now. Dad's waiting for you at the kitchen." Touya said as he walked closer to the gate and Sakura still looking at him. Syaoran on the other hand, had his guard on.

"You won't hurt him, right?" Sakura asked, still nervous.

"If I would, I would have clobbered him by now, don't you think?" Touya replied. "Inside." He continued as he pointed to the door.

Sakura followed his orders and left the two alone.

"There's only one thing that I want to tell you, brat. You are the only one on my list. There's no one else that cares for my sister like the way I see you do… Take very good care of her, alright!" he demanded.

"H-hai!" Syaoran said not knowing what to say. Did he just entrust Sakura to him!

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **And here you go… chapter 3… I thought I lost it actually… I accidentally closed Word and unconsciously knowing that what I was already closing was the fic… luckily, I had copy pasted it before doing such closing… So I had recovered it… Anyway, sorry for the lame chapter… I'll try to improve… Just please leave reviews so that I would know where to improve my writing…. Thanks in advance and I hope that you enjoyed the fic….

If you want news about my fic updates, just visit my blog.


	4. The Flight

**COUNTRY ROADS**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **I'm back once again with another boring chapter… Thanks by the way to those who reviewed the last chapter… And so, they are off to Rome and they are already high school graduates… I wonder what'll happen to them in Rome… What the heck is Touya hiding!

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Card Captor Sakura… Only the plot is mine…

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**LAST CHAPTER:**

"H-hai!" Syaoran said not knowing what to say. Did he just entrust Sakura to him!

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**CHAPTER FOUR: THE FLIGHT**

Four o'clock in the morning, Kinomoto Sakura was roaming around the house fixing her stuff, getting ready for their trip. That night, after Touya had his conversation with Syaoran, she was just too happy to even argue with him and make him tell her what they talked about. Besides, it was their only man to man talk and she wasn't going to interfere anymore… They are growing close, right? That's what she thought.

Thinking about what Touya just told him that night, Syaoran couldn't sleep. He was stuck with the thought that he even dared to entrust Sakura to him who he hated so much since the time that they met. Besides, where is he going? Or, what's going to happen? No one knows. Only Touya knows where he is going to be after a few months. Not even his father knows about this.

Still not getting any sleep, Syaoran gave up and stood up. He walked over to the kitchen counter and got himself something to eat. It was already five o'clock and their flight is at 6:30. After finalizing all his stuff last night, he retired to bed early. Only, he wasn't able to sleep until now. After taking a bath and dressing up, he was on his way to Sakura's. He had promised Touya to take care of his sister and he wasn't going to break that promise, even though it was a promise between him and his worst enemy.

Quarter to six, he was already on his way to Sakura's house bringing with him his convertible car. He was going to leave that car in Eriol's house for the whole trip so that he can drop Sakura off to her house on their way home from Rome.

Ten minutes before six, he was already inside Sakura's living room waiting for her to come down. Again, he and Touya were in a deep conversation. Fujitaka was upstairs helping his daughter with her stuff, or should I say luggage…

"I'm not kidding. When something happens to my sister, you are totally going to pay. You got that!" Touya said starting his old oh-so-protective brother tone.

Syaoran, having another one of their normal conversations, glared at him as if he was really going to do something to Sakura to which of course he wasn't.

"Sorry to keep you waiting….!" Sakura said as she walked towards the last step of the stairs. Syaoran, presently not listening to Touya's speech, was staring at Sakura. She wore a pink tank top and a white jacket since it was cold. Then she had white capri pants that stopped a bit below her knees and was wearing light brown colored Chuck Taylor (Chucks, those famous converse shoes now a days) rubber shoes with matching light pink socks that run through her ankle. She had her hair loose but she did have a pink clip at the right side of her hair.

Noticing that he doesn't have an audience right now, Touya glared at Syaoran who he caught staring at his sister.

Sakura walked towards Syaoran with her luggage being dragged by her. "Ne, Syaoran… You alright?" she asked waving her hands in front of him as she came in closer. She couldn't tease Syaoran by kissing him in the cheek with her brother just right beside him at the moment.

"Huh?" he finally came through. "Uh… Yeah… Shall we?" he asked.

Sakura smiled at him and said her goodbyes to her brother and father who wished them a safe trip. It was odd enough for Touya wishing Syaoran and Sakura a safe trip. But Sakura didn't mind. She thought that he was just trying to be nice to Syaoran because he did pick her up and saving him the trouble of going to the airport.

"Where are they!" Tomoyo asked Eriol as they were waiting for Sakura and Syaoran to arrive at Eriol's house. Tomoyo arrived there thirty minutes earlier to video her cousin and Syaoran together.

Having only fifteen minutes left, Tomoyo and Eriol started to worry. If they don't leave now, they'll miss their flight.

Seconds later, Syaoran turned to Eriol's gate and parked his car at the garage. Tomoyo, having her camera ready, taped Sakura and Syaoran as he drove by the driveway. "What took you guys so long?" Eriol asked as he slowly followed them towards to garage.

"Sorry… We got stuck in traffic…" Sakura said as she stepped out of the car first to start unloading their stuff and load it to Eriol's car which they were having Nakuru to drive them to the airport.

Tomoyo, still not putting her camera away, squealed, "Sakura-chan kawaii!"

Still unloading their stuff now with Syaoran and Eriol's help, Sakura blushed to the thought that Tomoyo was still capturing this. "Ne, Tomoyo-chan, we have to get going…." Eriol stated as he placed the last of Sakura's things. Eriol and Syaoran only had 1 luggage and they had packed all the stuff that they needed in that one luggage. On the other hand, Tomoyo and Sakura didn't have that much convention in mind. They had packed almost one fourth of what their own cabinets could occupy. For short, Tomoyo had 3 luggages and Sakura had 2.

Putting the camera away at last, Tomoyo boarded the car after Sakura did. And, they were off the airport.

o-o-o-o-o- AIRPORT -o-o-o-o-o

"Ja ne, Nakuru-san… Arigato for taking us to the airport…" both Sakura and Tomoyo said before Nakuru could drive away.

Syaoran and Eriol checked them in as Sakura and Tomoyo bought something for them to eat while they were waiting. Well, they didn't have to wait for long anyway, just something to munch on. They got there ten minutes before their flight.

Arriving at their designated gate three minutes before the time, they all sat by the gate and talked. By the time that the voice intercom called on their flight number, they all stood up and walked towards the gate, laughing. Why? Well, Sakura ended up telling them about Touya's mysterious moves these days. They found that funny because Touya would usually grab Syaoran and kill him then if ever he saw Sakura with Syaoran, which was always.

The sudden change of attitude, for Sakura was something that she thought he liked to change since she already was a college student the time she stepped back at Japan. For Syaoran on the other hand, he thought that maybe he finally gave up and trusted her to him. Tomoyo and Eriol, on the other hand, found it funny because of the fact that they never thought that that was actually possible.

It was going to be a long flight. They'd have a stop at India where they'll have to wait for an hour. Their arrangements on their seats were by pairs as Eriol arranged it to be. Sakura and Syaoran were together while he and Tomoyo were in front of them.

Not having enough sleep, Sakura fell asleep and had her head leaning on Syaoran's shoulders a few minutes after. Not minding that even though his heart was racing, Syaoran too felt tired and fell asleep himself.

Bringing a book, Eriol and Tomoyo read for the first two hours, talked for the next hour and slept the last ones. The book that they were both bringing happened to be the sequel and prequel of the books that they had. Eriol truly enjoyed the flight with Tomoyo and was planning on surprising her more. He didn't know that Tomoyo liked the book. Now that he knew what she liked, he's gonna have to revise their schedule. It looks like there were places that Tomoyo didn't want to visit but he insisted to.

The last two hours of the flight to India, Sakura and Syaoran were the ones awake this time. Having known each other for so long, they acted like children teasing each other like they usually did. People who passed by them would think that they were more than friends.

Accidentally, Syaoran didn't have any control on what he was doing at this point, he leaned on Sakura, who was laughing, and kissed her square on the lips. Shocked, Sakura didn't know what to do. A few minutes after, Syaoran moved back and thought of what he just did. "G-gomen…!" he said, now looking at his lap.

Still shocked, Sakura didn't know what to answer. She just stared at Syaoran like he was crazy or something. But deep inside, she knew that he didn't accidentally did that…

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** Still lame updates… I really can't remove this mental-block mode… I just have to remove this before we even start working on our research paper! Anyway, sorry for the lame, boring and short chapter… Please review… Flames are accepted…


	5. Rome Sick

**COUNTRY ROADS**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Hi and I'm back once again… Thanks by the way to those who reviewed for the last chapter… And to those who are wondering what'll happen to Touya… Just read and wait for it to come out… laughs evilly joking… Anyway, just read and you'll soon find out… 

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Card Captor Sakura…

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**LAST CHAPTER:**

Still shocked, Sakura didn't know what to answer. She just stared at Syaoran like he was crazy or something. But deep inside, she knew that he didn't accidentally do that…

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**CHAPTER FIVE: ROME SICK**

Arriving at New Delhi, our four characters stepped out of the plane and sat by the gate where they are supposed to enter again. Tomoyo and Eriol were having fun talking about the books, again. Sakura and Syaoran, in God's miracle, weren't acting childish. In fact, they weren't talking to each other. Eriol and Tomoyo at first asked them what had happened. Both of them answered the same thing, "Nothing."

For the next thirty minutes, they both didn't talk to each other. Syaoran finally gave up. He can't take it not talking to anyone for that long. He sighed, grabbed Sakura's hand, stood up and dragged her some place where Eriol and Tomoyo won't hear them talking. "Look, I can't take it not talking to anyone. It's not like I can talk to Eriol when I can see that he is having a wonderful time with Daidouji. Sorry about what happened at the plane…" he started talking.

Sakura wasn't expecting for an apology. She was shocked when he dragged her actually. She was just waiting for Syaoran to talk to her since she didn't know how to start things. "I… It's alright actually… You know what I wasn't actually expecting you to apologize… Hey, come on… You didn't do it on purpose right? I mean, someone pushed you or something…" she started.

Not wanting to tell Sakura that no one pushed him but yeah, he didn't do it on purpose, he told her that someone did.

"Shall we? They might be looking for us…" Syaoran suggested as he offered a hand to Sakura like she was going to fall or something.

After a few more minutes, they had once again boarded the plane and were on their way to their final destination, Rome.

And then again, after a few more hours of teasing and laughing for Sakura and Syaoran and a lot of reading and talking for Eriol and Tomoyo, they had finally arrived in Rome.

Disembarking the plane and gathering all their belongings, they were finally off to their hotels. Once then had arrived, there were a lot of bell boys that helped them. Obviously, Eriol had them in the skit too. A skit…? Yup… something that Tomoyo and Eriol planned together but of course did actually plan the trip itself.

As the girls stepped out of the taxi and saw the place where they will be staying in for the next 2 weeks, their final expression for an hour were their big beautiful emerald and amethyst eyes and a big smile on their faces.

"Hi… Uh I have a reservation under the name of Mr. Hiiragizawa?" Eriol told the person behind the counter.

"Oh… Are you the guy how got the free 2 weeks stay?" the guy replied with a magnificent English accent for a guy who lives in Rome.

Eriol just smiled at him.

Sakura and Tomoyo were both looking around the hotel. So far, they have found a really nice lanai with a beautiful indoor garden and beside it was a restaurant. There was also a small fountain at the middle of the garden where they saw a lot of couples sitting next to each other. With Syaoran tagging along them, all he did was tell them that this was nothing with the hotels that he saw in Venice and all. But of course, not one of them took his sayings for real.

After a few seconds, they were all escorted to their rooms at the 40th floor, the penthouse actually. When the elevator stopped and they all walked out, once again, Tomoyo and Sakura had started their expressions with an "aw" and started to roam around again. They had the penthouse to themselves. Who wouldn't be awed by it!

It was 4 o'clock in the afternoon and they were still resting at their room. Sakura and Tomoyo shared a room where they had displayed all their "girly" stuff at the dresser and their things neatly folded at one side of the room. Meanwhile, Eriol and Syaoran's room, well, let's just say that since they entered the room, it began to become messy. Syaoran took off his coat and tossed it by the couch. Eriol on the other hand left his bag hanging open in the middle of the room when he grabbed something to change on since he found it a bit too cold to wear his t-shirt and didn't want to put on layers and layers of clothes. Syaoran also left his bag at the middle of the room then tossing himself next to the bed by the window which had totally messed up the covers.

Just as Eriol got out of the bathroom, Syaoran stood up and walked straight to the window, staring at the view. They had a view of the ocean though it seemed to be far. They also had a view of the sunset though you can't see the sun set now since it is just 4 in the afternoon.

"Missing her, bro?" Eriol joked.

Not paying attention to Eriol, Syaoran just stood there and continued to stare at the view. How he wished that he could once have Sakura see this. What he didn't know was, they were staring at the same view for almost the same time.

"Tomoyo…! Look at this! It's so kawaii!" Sakura said as she noticed the view from their room. They had the same view as with what Syaoran was now seeing.

Continued to brush her hair at the bathroom, Tomoyo told Sakura that she'd just look at it later. Decided to see more of the view, Sakura stepped out to the balcony. Wanting to smell the real Rome, she started to inhale the breeze that went pass her.

His stomach suddenly grumbled, Eriol grabbed Syaoran's arm and dragged him to the kitchen to eat something so that he wasn't alone. He did hate that. And now that he is with his friends in one of his vacations, he wanted someone to be with him as he ate something.

"You are such a baby… Why can't you eat alone…!" Syaoran complained as Eriol continued to drag him to the kitchen.

Just continued to drag Syaoran and never gave the option to tell him why. When they arrived at the kitchen, Eriol had let go of Syaoran's hand and ran towards the refrigerator. "Come on man… I know you're hungry too… I heard your stomach growl a while ago…" Eriol said.

And it did just like it knew the cue, Syaoran's stomach did grumble. He was hungry. "Fine, fine… you win…!" Syaoran said as he dived in to whatever Eriol was creating with a loaf of beard, nutella, ice cream and peanut butter. Of course, he still had the mind not to mix them all together. That'll be gross…

When Sakura walked back in the room, she sat at the bed near the window that she had grown to love for only a few minutes.

The next day was go-around day. It was the day that they would start seeing Rome. Not seeing Tomoyo at the bed beside her, Sakura started to worry. What if they had left her? Suddenly she realized that they didn't travel together. Standing up but not feeling well, Sakura took a shower and walked out only to see Syaoran at the couch watching television, obviously waiting for her.

Hearing the door open, Syaoran grinned and then looked at Sakura who was standing by the door wearing a pair of pants that were a bit baggy, a lose shirt and a jacket, 2 jackets to be exact. She was cold and she didn't know why.

Syaoran then closed the television and said as he stood up, "About time you got up. I've been waiting for you for hours…"

"Gomen… I didn't notice the time and I forgot to set an alarm." Sakura apologized softly.

Walking towards her, Syaoran looked confused that she didn't try to tease him today, not that she always did anyway. But something was totally different from her today. She wasn't her cheerful self. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah… I gu –" she tried to say but before she could even finish her sentence, she fainted. Luckily, Syaoran caught her in the nick of time.

"Sakura…! Sakura! What's wrong with you!" he yelled hoping she would hear him.

o-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------o

In this world, no one is perfect. Everyone is simply different and again, not the same. "I hate you!" a girl yelled. She looked like she was in a park surrounded by lots of beautiful flowers. Who was she yelling to? A guy that was walking away… It hurts deep inside to see your loved one walk away, right? That's just what this girl is feeling; hurt, anger and at the same time, hatred. These feelings had covered up her innocent and beautiful heart at that time. Nothing seems to be right…

Just then, light came from where the guy was.

"Sakura…! Sakura!" someone yelled.

Opening her eyes, Kinomoto Sakura found herself lying beside her best friend who was sitting by the bed. "What happened?" she asked softly.

"Thank God… I thought you'd never wake up. You just fainted an hour ago…" he said. "What happened? Why were you screaming?" he continued.

Try to stand up, she suddenly felt weak and fell back to bed. "I feel so weak Syao..." she said.

Syaoran, as an instinct to him in these kinds of situations, he placed the back of his palm at Sakura's neck seeing if she was hot or something. Feeling a bit hotter in Sakura's neck, he stood up and walked over to their bathroom and went over to the medicine kit that was lying around by the sink. Opening it, he searched for a thermometer. After resetting it to zero, he placed it inside Sakura's mouth and waited for a few minutes before taking it out again.

"Man you sure are burning hot…" he said as he saw her temperature, 39.2 degrees Celsius.

Sakura then grabbed the comforter nearer to her and stared at Syaoran. "Ne, Syaoran, I'm sorry that this trip would seem to be boring to you… I mean, look, I got myself sick…" Sakura said.

"Nah… It's alright. Let's just stay here until you feel better alright?" Syaoran said then he once again searched for something that Sakura could drink at the medicine kit. "Here. Drink this. I'll go cook you something to eat, alright?" he continued then smiled at her before he could stand up and leave the room.

Soon after he had exited the room and entered the kitchen, Sakura smiled to herself and mumbled, "Arigato, Syao-kun…"

After a few minutes, Syaoran returned with a tray containing a bowl of soup, glass of water, spoon and a vase of a flower that had a tulip. "Here… Bon appetite…" he said with a smile again as he rested the tray in Sakura's lap.

"Thanks…" she once again mumbled.

"How did you get yourself sick anyway?" he asked as he watched Sakura eat the soup which he had prepared. Hey, he rarely prepared for anyone. This is the first time to someone that wasn't a family member actually.

After swallowing the soup, Sakura answered him, "I don't know… Maybe because I stayed too long outside last night admiring the beautiful view over there," pointing at the view that she had seen last night. Unfortunately, Syaoran couldn't quiet see the beauty in the view yet. He did see it before sunset, but not the exact sunset.

"I know… We have great views from up here…" he said. Then he realized that this was one thing that he wanted to see together with Sakura, the beautiful sunset in Rome. But, since Sakura had already seen it, it wouldn't be practical to invite her and see it again. Finally gathering up his courage, Syaoran started to say something. Something that he knew would ruin their friendship forever. "Sakura…" he started.

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **And there you go… a boring chapter… Anyway, I'm not feeling that well today so I'm gonna stop talking here and just ask you a favor… Please leave a review…


	6. Digging a Hole

**COUNTRY ROADS**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Hello once again… Okay… I know that I wasn't able to update the story for a long time… I'm really sorry about it… It's just my internet provider… They just cut me off without any reason… I don't know… Anyway, thanks again for those who reviewed the last chapter:

- Daughter of Water  
- white-cracker  
- halliwells – hmm… yeah… I kinda agree on you… I took your advice by the way… (smile)  
- sakandliluver – uuhhh…. We'll see what'll happen at the end… if they do get together… (evil laugh)

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Card Captor Sakura…

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**LAST CHAPTER:**

"I know… We have great views from up here…" he said. Then he realized that this was one thing that he wanted to see together with Sakura, the beautiful sunset in Rome. But, since Sakura had already seen it, it wouldn't be practical to invite her and see it again. Finally gathering up his courage, Syaoran started to say something. Something that he knew would ruin their friendship forever. "Sakura…" he started.

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**CHAPTER SIX: DIGGING A HOLE**

It was a beautiful day in Rome. Two people in a hotel room, specifically the penthouse, were seen staring at each others eyes, not bothered blinking… Their companions were out, exploring the beauty of Rome although they thought that their friends did too. But to their dismay and unknown to them, one got sick.

Exploring Rome, Eriol and Tomoyo found themselves confessing to each other their feelings. It happened at that fountain that everyone loved…

Tomoyo was wishing for something to happen before she even tossed the coin to the fountain. Turning around, she found herself face to face with her wish. Not only face to face though. He had his lips on hers. Somehow, he knew that this was her wish. And indeed it was; something that she had been wishing to happen for so long.

After a few seconds, they broke apart. "Tomoyo, I love you…." Eriol confessed.

A cheer of joy was coiling inside Tomoyo. All she could do at this point was stare at Eriol with a slight smile. She tried to speak but all she could come out was air. Seeing that Eriol might think otherwise, Tomoyo just hugged him. And that was when she got back to reality. "I love you too…"

Back at the penthouse, the two couples were still the same. One was sitting down in a bed and the other sitting beside her, now staring at his lap. "Sakura….I…"

Just then the penthouse door opened revealing Eriol and Tomoyo obviously back from their exploring. Noticing that there were 2 pairs of shoes untouched, Tomoyo yelled, "Syaoran? Sakura? You guys here already?"

Sakura sighed knowing that something was supposed to happen if Tomoyo and Eriol didn't come. "We're here Tomoyo…" she said still looking at Syaoran. "Syao… I'm sorry you didn't get to see Rome because you had to stay here with me…" she said.

"Nah… Seeing Rome would be much better if I were with you…" he mumbled but was loud enough for Sakura to hear.

"Excuse me?" Sakura asked not believing that she actually heard those words come out of Syaoran's mouth.

Blushing, Syaoran just looked down and tried to make something up. Lucky enough for him, Tomoyo came inside the room to see them. "Sakura! What happened!" she asked as she saw Sakura still in pajamas, lying in bed with Syaoran sitting beside her.

Sakura sweet dropped at the situation that she got herself in. Then she said, "Remember last night, I was outside the balcony? Well, I guess I caught a slight fever from that… I might not be used to Rome air…"

Hearing the word "slight", Syaoran jerked up and touched Sakura's forehead making Sakura blush. "What are you talking about! You call that a slight fever! I call it HIGH fever!" he said starting to lecture Sakura.

The two once again started a "fight" but it really wasn't that serious… It's just one of their everyday fights. Tomoyo, wanting to give them more privacy, dragged Eriol out of the penthouse and dragged him somewhere else.

"Where are we going?" Eriol asked as he was being dragged out of the penthouse and into the elevator.

"Anywhere far from the penthouse. I don't wanna disturb the two…" Tomoyo said. "Hey Eriol," she started again as they closed the elevator doors, "I wanna get those two together… Wanna help?" she continued.

"Hey, I don't think that's going to work! Besides, I can tell that they already like each other. It's just up to Syaoran to confess." He said.

Back to Sakura and Syaoran… "Hey! I really wanted to get fresh air last night! Besides, the sunset was really nice!" Sakura said.

Sighing, Syaoran looked away from Sakura and looked at the window. "Wow…" he mumbled as he saw the sunset.

Still deciding on his next move, he just let things through. He didn't want to think about this anymore and just followed with what he really wanted to do. "Hey Sakura, want some air? I just saw a nice view."

Not actually knowing what Syaoran was planning, Sakura asked. "Huh?"

But before she could even protest, Syaoran held her hands and pulled her to the balcony. Sure, he knows that she had a fever, but, he really wanted to see the sunset with Sakura, not matter where it was.

After a few seconds of admiring the sunset, Sakura giggled. "What?" Syaoran asked as he turned his look once again to Sakura.

"And you were saying…?" Sakura said.

"Fine, fine… I'm sorry, alright?" he said. Unfortunately, he told Sakura a while ago that seeing the sunset wouldn't be nice if he'd just get a fever or something so he wouldn't bother seeing it anymore and going outside that balcony. But, he went out. What's worse, he dragged a sick person out to the cold. Syaoran dragged the comforter with him when they went out the balcony though, to keep Sakura from getting cold.

Staring once again at the sunset just like she did last night, Sakura sighed and said, "This is the most beautiful view that I have ever seen, don't you agree?"

"No…" Syaoran said not thinking once again of what he was saying.

"No? What's more beautiful that this view? I wanna see it!" Sakura said, more excited.

Still not aware of his words, he continued... "The most beautiful view that I have ever seen is standing right beside me…" he said. Just then, that was when he thought about all the things that he had said. Oh well, too late to back out now…

"What?" Sakura asked not wanting to believe what she just heard.

"Y-You heard me…" Syaoran said, mumbling and nervous about the situation which he had dug into. Now staring at the ground once again, Syaoran really didn't know what to say.

Still trying to decide whether that was just a dream, Sakura suddenly felt dizzy. Unfortunately, she wasn't holding at the rails of the balcony since she held her head with both her palms. Syaoran, noticing that she didn't look good and saw that she was about to faint, caught her just in time before she could really fall to the ground.

"Sakura! Sakura! Are you alright!" he asked before he could carry Sakura, bridal style, to the bed which was near the window.

A few minutes later, Sakura came through seeing Syaoran staring at her with a worried expression. "You alright? You suddenly passed out on me…" he said.

Trying to stand up but couldn't because she would feel dizzy every time she tried, Sakura said, "Yeah… I just felt dizzy a while ago… Until now actually…" she admitted.

"Sorry… I shouldn't have taken you out there knowing that you are sick…" Syaoran said.

"Nah… I loved the view anyway… And, I realized a lot of things while staring at the sunset…" Sakura said with a smile on her face, obviously smiling and thanking Syaoran.

"Realized what?" he asked.

Sakura didn't want to tell anyone yet what she had realized by her own. It's just that, she still wasn't ready even though someone else already is. "Secret…" Sakura said. Then she stuck her tongue out to Syaoran with, still, a smile on her face.

Pouting to Sakura, Syaoran said, "Hey no fair…"

With a question look on her face, Sakura asked him, "How did that become unfair?"

"I told you how I felt…" Syaoran said, now, he knows what he was talking about. Of course at first he didn't like the idea of telling Sakura that 'cause he thought that it would ruin their friendship. But, what's done is done… You can't change the past.

Wanting to change the subject as fast as she could, Sakura suddenly noticed that she hasn't seen both Tomoyo and Eriol since the time that Syaoran and she started fighting about her "slight" fever. "Hey, have you noticed Tomoyo and Eriol? I haven't seen them for a while already…"

Getting out of his senses, he responded, "Come to think of it, I haven't seen them since the time we started that little fight…" with a little giggle after. Suddenly realizing that Sakura was changing the subject, he reacted once more, "Hey! Don't try to change the subject…," mumbling.

All Sakura can do at this point is to nervously giggle while scratching her head. "Uhh… Syao…" Sakura began.

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Okay… so there it is… I hope you enjoyed this chapter… I know that it's kinda short… And yeah… I know… I like ending it with them whispering/saying the other person's name… sweat drop I don't know… I just like it that way and when I start putting that, I don't know what to write next… Anyway, I'll try to make it up to you guys in the next chapter… Though I'm not quite promising that it'll be out soon… I still have a lot of school projects to attend to… So, anyway, gotta go… please don't forget to leave a review.. (smile)


	7. Exchange

**COUNTRY ROADS**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Sorry for the super late update... Been so wrapped up in school... Anyway, it's summer time for me... But don't expect me to be writing a lot cause I'll be at home...

(Sunday, April 16, 2006) Sigh… Right now, I'm sitting in front of the computer with the time ticking at 3:15 in the morning…. I just can't sleep and I, haven't done anything progressing since the day I got back home – which was last thursday. Anyway, as I promised, I got back to you guys with another chapter… Not that much though but it's what came out to my mind during a lot of times… I just got out of my mental block after writing our essay about gaming consoles…

Anyway, enough about that and let's go to the story...

Thanks by the way to those who reviewed the past chapter.  
+ white-cracker  
+ Daughter of Water  
+ halliwells  
+ sakandliluver  
+ dilly-sammas luver

For updates, please visit my blog: hopedreams(dot)blogdrive(dot)com

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Card Captor Sakura…

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**LAST CHAPTER:**

_Getting out of his senses, he responded, "Come to think of it, I haven't seen them since the time we started that little fight…" with alittle giggle after. Suddenly realizing that Sakura was changing the subject, he reacted once more, "Hey! Don't try to change the subject…," mumbling._

_All Sakura can do at this point is to nervously giggle while scratching her head. "Uhh… Syao…" Sakura began._

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**CHAPTER SEVEN: EXCHANGE**

Upon entering the penthouse, Eriol and Tomoyo found it too quiet. Knowing Sakura and Syaoran and at the same time leaving those two together, they wouldn't miss the chance to tease each other for fun. But this time, it was way too quiet.

Inside the room were Sakura and Syaoran. Sakura was sitting upright at the bed with Syaoran beside her. Both of their faces were mashed together, eyes are closed, lips are one. Obviously, they are kissing.

Leaving the door slightly ajar, Tomoyo and Eriol saw them. Smiling, they both tip-toed to the next room, leaving the two to their business.

o _flashback_ o

"Syaoran… I know that I'm still not ready for any commitments but…" Sakura started as Syaoran looked at her straight in the eyes, hoping. "I… I can't help it… I mean, I want to be in one but I just know I still can't take it. I'm afraid…"

Syaoran then took hold of her shoulders gently, still looking at her in the eye. "Sakura, I'm here for you and I'll always be. I love you…" he said finally saying those three words that he's been dying to tell to Sakura.

With tears starting to form in her eyes, Sakura smiled up at Syaoran. Their faces were so close that Sakura leaned in and closed the gap. After 5 seconds, Sakura broke the kiss and stared at Syaoran who now had the expression of happiness and yet, hopefulness. "Suki da…" was all she whispered that triggered Syaoran to lean in for another one.

o _end of flashback_ o

The next day, Sakura was already out of bed and is ready to explore the beauty of Rome.

By the time Sakura and Syaoran got back to the hotel, it was already dark outside. Syaoran took Sakura out for dinner so they didn't bother to mingle with Eriol and Tomoyo who were fighting on what to cook.

Sakura, as she finished taking a bath and fixed herself, she got her laptop which was still inside her back, and placed it at the table so she could type. Just as she was starting to type and record her "Roman" happenings, Syaoran entered the room without Sakura noticing as she was too happy.

Silently, Syaoran creped to Sakura while she had her head turned back from the door. When he finally reached her, he covered her eyes with his hands and suddenly kissed her in the cheeks. Of course, Sakura knowing that both Tomoyo and Eriol won't do that, she immediately held on to the hands that were still covering her eyes and smiled, "Syaoran… I'm typing…"

At that comment, Syaoran removed his hands from her eyes and grabbed a nearby chair and sat beside Sakura. "What is that?" he asked as Sakura was starting to type again.

"My Roman Journal… You see, I wanted to keep track of everything that happened here and never forget about them." She explained.

Syaoran nodded as his response. But, he had the feeling that he just can't stop. He wanted to kiss Sakura once again like he did last night. And with that, Syaoran held Sakura's left arm to get her attention. After typing a few more words to finish half of her journal, she turned to Syaoran only to find his lips meeting hers. And once again, they share another passionate kiss.

Outside, Eriol and Tomoyo had finally decided on what to cook. It took them more than an hour to decide and only about five to ten minutes to cook. When their dish was done, Tomoyo went on to call Sakura and Syaoran, not knowing that they already ate, while Eriol set up the table.

When Tomoyo opened the door to Sakura and her room, she found Sakura and Syaoran making out, again, like they did last night. "Hey! Break it up. Haven't you guys had enough? You've been doing that since last night…" Tomoyo said in a joking manner as if she was Sakura or Syaoran's mother.

Upon hearing Tomoyo's motherly voice, Sakura and Syaoran jumped and faced different directions, both blushing.

Smirking, Tomoyo had a plan. Of course, the plan won't ruin her vacation and tour with Eriol… But, she thought that it should push through a few days before they leave… "Hey, dinner's ready…" she said then retreated to the dining room.

Once again alone, Sakura and Syaoran stared at each other, "But we already had dinner…." They both said in unison. "I thought we told them that…." Sakura said.

"Guess they weren't listening… Anyway, come on. Let's at least see what they had prepared." Syaoran suggested.

After agreeing, Sakura and Syaoran stood up and walked to the dining room hand in hand. When they finally reached the room, they both saw that Tomoyo and Eriol are already sitting down the dining room beside each other with Eriol facing the arch and Tomoyo facing the kitchen. The table was set up and the dish that they had prepared was in the middle of the table. The table not being so big itself fitted them perfectly. The dining room was amazing. It really had the essence that you are really inside a hotel's penthouse. Upon looking at the dish, um… Let's just say both of them didn't know what to say…. They just stared at it from the arch of the dining room with their jaws opened.

"Well, aren't you guys going to eat? It took us long enough to decide what to cook and only took us around five to ten minutes to cook it you know…" Eriol commented.

"Uuuhhhhh…. Where's the food?" Syaoran asked but before he got an answer, Sakura said, "We told you a while ago that we were going to eat out, right?" trying to cover up for Syaoran before he got beaten up.

Tomoyo and Eriol looked at the dish that they had prepared. Then Tomoyo said, "For Sakura's question; no, you didn't mention anything about eating outside with Syaoran. For Syaoran's question; the food, my dear, is the one that you are staring at."

Unfortunately, Syaoran WAS actually staring at the dish. Let's descried it shall we… Sardines in a can… You know what they'd look like when you pour them out, right? Something like that except that there are few additional unknown stuff in it; but the dish is not really sardines.

"I bet it tastes good!" Sakura had once again commented. "It's not the way it is presented that makes something good. It's the taste…" she continued with a smile. Even though she was full and she definitely didn't want to eat that, she sat down and dragged Syaoran with her.

"Itadakimasu!" they all said in unison. Still afraid to eat it, Sakura hesitated at first. But, she had said that it's the taste that's important, she can't back out. _I wish I hadn't said that… _She thought. Upon placing the spoon on her mouth, Syaoran gasped a bit at the courage she had to actually do that. _YUCK! What the hell is this! _Sakura thought. She had the face that no one can even describe.

Seeing that Sakura looked like she was going to vomit, Syaoran didn't bother to get anything from the plate. Tomoyo and Eriol, on the other hand, didn't see Sakura's reaction and just went through to tasting their dish. And them too, after placing the spoon on their mouth, had the expression of vomiting – if you ask Syaoran.

Sakura was the first one to give in. Even though she did want to eat that thing for Tomoyo, she finally gave in. She quickly removed the spoon from her mouth and dropped everything that was inside her mouth to the plate. After a few seconds, so did Tomoyo and Eriol.

"I told you…" Syaoran commented in a tone as if he really knew the taste of that thing.

"What is it anyway?" Sakura asked as she got back to the dining room after running to the kitchen to spit out everything at the sink.

"That was supposed to be some kind of fish…" Eriol said after drinking 3 glasses of water.

"Anyway, enough of that… We'll just have something delivered…" Tomoyo said after drinking 4 glasses of water and trying to catch her breathing.

Sakura soon stood up and said, "Suit your selves… I'm going to bed… I'm kinda tired…" and then she retreated to Tomoyo and her room.

When she was no where in site, Syaoran looked at Tomoyo and said, "Tomoyo, is it alright with you if we switch places? Besides, I think I know that you'd like to be with Eriol as much as you can…"

With that last comment, both Eriol and Tomoyo blushed and looked at opposite directions. "Hmm… Sure…" she said after recovering. When she saw Syaoran smiling and standing up, she continued, "Just do not… And I repeat, DO NOT do anything to Sakura!"

"Hey!" Syaoran looked back to her with a hurt kinda expression.

When Syaoran finally grabbed all his belongings in his former room, he dragged then all to Sakura's room only to find her already in bed. When he closed the door, he grabbed a pair of boxers and a shirt and went straight to the bathroom to change.

Hearing someone open the door, Sakura suddenly woke up. _Syaoran? _She thought as she had smelt his scent. _Nah… Can't be…_

Since the two beds were joined together, Syaoran had no choice but to actually sleep beside Sakura who was almost at the middle of the bed. When he laid down, he turned to Sakura's side and stared at her – he couldn't sleep.

Curious who the person beside her was; Sakura turned around, with her eyes closed. She still can't get rid of the fact that it was only Syaoran's scent that she could smell. Finally, she opened her eyes only to meet with Syaoran's amber eyes. "Hey…" Syaoran greeted with a smile.

Surprised, Sakura sat upright while staring at Syaoran. "Syaoran? What are you doing here?" she said.

"Well, I exchanged rooms with Tomoyo…" he said as he too sat up. They were now facing each other, still staring.

"I noticed…"

"Does it bother you?" he asked as he saw the worried face painted on Sakura's.

She tilted her head a bit and answered, "No… Not really… I just didn't expect that you would exchange rooms with Tomoyo and that she actually agreed! Oh my God, she agreed! Does that mean…."

With assurance from Syaoran's smile, Sakura knew that there was something going on between Tomoyo and Eriol. "Okay… I wasn't aware of that… Evil Tomoyo… Not telling me anything…" she said as she looked at Tomoyo's stuff that were still at the room.

"I think she would have told you if she had caught you without me or without me kissing you…" Syaoran said, still with a smile on his face.

After a few seconds, he held her right cheek and said, "Come on… You're tired… You better get to sleep… We still have a lot to do tomorrow…" Then he gave her his warm smile.

After nodding, Sakura laid back down and closed her eyes. Syaoran laid down as well and watched his angel sleep. "I love you…" Sakura whispered as she snuggled closer to Syaoran.

Wrapping his arms around her, he whispered back to her ears the three simple words that he had said and wanted to say to her forever, "I love you…"

The next day is going to be another day for another adventure. Eriol and Tomoyo are headed to the area within the Vatican while Sakura and Syaoran will be heading to the famous fountain in Rome, the Trevi Fountain.

By 9:30, Syaoran woke up due to Sakura's loud alarm that she just kept on snoozing. She had set it to go off by 7 o'clock. She hasn't woken up but Syaoran kept on hearing it but didn't want to be bothered by it so he slept through it. But this had gone too far… He sat up staring at the alarm clock that Sakura had placed near her ear, which was unfortunately beside his ear as well. Then he had decided to stand up and prepare.

After a few minutes, Sakura finally gave up on her alarm clock. She opened her eyes expecting to see Syaoran beside her, still sleeping. Unfortunately, he was gone which caused Sakura to sit upright.

"Syaoran?" she called softly.

As if on cue, Syaoran opened the door of their bathroom, he just finished his shower and still had wet hair wearing pants and towel hanging by his right shoulder giving Sakura a great view of his abs. Obviously he had been working out for him to be able to build such nice abs, it is so close to being a six-pack! But not that much… Just enough to look good and suit him.

Seeing Sakura sitting at the bed, obviously looking for him, commented, "You have one nasty appetite for sleep, Kinomoto…"

Turning to see Syaoran walking from the bathroom door to his luggage to get some clothes, she smiled and said, "Morning Syaoran… Sorry about the alarm clock…"

"Do you usually sleep through that alarm? It's too noisy…"

"Oh yes she does…" Tomoyo said as she opened the door seeing Sakura at the bed and Syaoran, still without a shirt, walking towards Sakura carrying a dark green shirt on his left hand. "Oh my God, Syaoran!"

Sakura and Syaoran, now both looking at Tomoyo, who was all dressed up, at their doorway. Seeing that Syaoran doesn't look like he did something wrong, Sakura asked, "What?"

"You got nice abs!" she commented before Eriol could even pop-up behind her calling her to go.

Giggling before she could retreat to the living room to wait for Eriol, Syaoran had pulled on the shirt that he was holding and sat beside Sakura, confused.

Knowing that he didn't know what Tomoyo was talking about, she said, "Working out?"

"I used to… Well, a few weeks before…"

Not wanting to continue his sentence, he had changed to topic. "You better get ready if you want to see more of Rome… It's only a matter of 3 days before we travel to Venice." He said. Then he stood up and walked over to his luggage rummaging for something.

"What! Hey!" Sakura said. She was eagerly listening to Syaoran but he had to change the topic and look for something in his luggage. She then stood up and walked closer to Syaoran and touched his shoulder. "You alright?" she asked. He did look a bit weird which was so unnatural.

"Um… Yeah... I just couldn't find… Find this thing…"

"What thing? Can I help?" she said.

"Um… Maybe after you take you shower. Eww.. You stink…" Syaoran commented.

Knowing that they were once again back to normal, teasing each other again that is, Sakura replied, "So not!" Then she stomped towards the bathroom.

Smiling to himself when he had finally got Sakura to go to the bathroom, he had resumed to search his luggage for something that he had bought yesterday that Sakura didn't know about.

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **And there you go… It's not that much, as I said… But I hope that you guys liked it… Please leave a review…. And thanks… (smile)


	8. Lost

**CHAPTER EIGHT: LOST**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Hello! Sorry for the delay of this chapter… I've been done with it for a few days already… But, you see, I haven't been online since the time I got home… Which is a total bummer actually… So, here it is… Thanks to those who took their time to review the previous chapter... (smile)

o- white-cracker  
o- Dreaming in Anime - ahehe.. I've never been to Rome myself and I would like to go, too,once... I still don't know when that "once" is though… (sweat-drop)  
o- ffgil-07  
o- sakandliluver  
o- at certain times

Anyway, on with the story……

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Card Captor Sakura

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**LAST CHAPTER:**

_Knowing that they were once again back to normal, teasing each other again that is, Sakura replied, "So not!" Then she stomped towards the bathroom._

_Smiling to himself when he had finally got Sakura to go to the bathroom, he had resumed to search his luggage for something that he had bought yesterday that Sakura didn't know about._

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

With the shower still running as Sakura was still inside, Syaoran continued to stick his head inside his suitcase looking for a certain "thing". When the shower had stopped, he failed to notice since he was too occupied and was worried when he couldn't find it. Pissed off, Syaoran started to throw his clothes around the suitcase and him causing a total mess.

When Sakura had finally came out of the bathroom, she saw that Syaoran was still rummaging his suitcase, but this time, the room was a total mess than before she went in the bathroom. "Did a tornado just pass by while I was at the bathroom? The room's a mess, Syaoran!" she said.

Looking up to see his angel, Syaoran smile and examined her. She wore white tank top, khaki colored Capri pants and white socks. She had let her hair down and let it flow naturally. Changing the topic, he asked her, "Aren't you gonna get cold in that?" with concern as he stood up from his mess and made his way towards Sakura and cupped her cheeks.

"Hell I will be! I'm not gonna go outside wearing only this. Only an insane person would do that honey…" she said as she also cupped Syaoran's cheek as she said her last sentence. Then she showed him a pink blouse that's suited for winters and a thick green jacket.

"What's the tank top for then?"

"Nothing… I just wanted to wear it too… You know added layer to my already thick clothes…" Sakura said. Then she pointed to the mess Syaoran made. "You'd better clean that mess…" she said.

Noticing a small blue velvet box beside one of Syaoran's already messed-up clothes, Sakura asked him, "What is that?" and pointed to the box.

Looking at what Sakura pointed at, his eyes widened. "There you are!" he yelled and went to pick it up.

With tilted head and narrowed eyes, Sakura looked at Syaoran obviously wondering what the box contained. Lucky for Syaoran, it wasn't his. He had only noticed it by the time Sakura hinted him to tell her the content of the box. "Um… Its Eriol's… He wanted me to keep it for a while. He said he was going to give it to Tomoyo." True enough and thankfully, it really was Eriol's. Luckily, the box that he had wasn't blue. Instead, it was green, dark shade of green, forest green to be exact.

Sakura's eyes lightened up and approached Syaoran. "Let me see, let me see!" she yelled excitedly as she grabbed the box from Syaoran and opened it. "Oh my God! When did he buy this?" Sakura exclaimed.

"I believe he bought that when he was in England. A few weeks before he returned to Japan… Of course, before he went here…" Syaoran said.

"It's beautiful…!" she exclaimed once again. It was a white gold necklace that had a lavender flower as its pendant and had purple crystals as its flower. Then, it also had her name engraved at the back of the pendant.

"According to him, that according to the seller of this necklace, that he was able to buy it from someone that came from Japan; which means, this necklace originally came from Japan; if the story is true..." Syaoran said in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone of voice.

With a smile, Sakura closed the box and gave it back to Syaoran. "Eriol really likes Tomoyo doesn't he…"

"Even before they met." Syaoran commented. Realizing that he wasn't supposed to say that and even show Sakura the necklace, he gasped. "Sakura… Don't tell Tomoyo anything about that comment and this necklace." He said gently as he turned to her.

"Hey, I'm not planning on telling her anything… I'm not a spoiler, unlike someone I know…" she said. "So what about Eriol liking her even before they met…?"

"Let's just say that he rummaged through my stuff when he was looking for presents when I got home from here and found a picture of the group. He fell in love with her the day he saw that picture. That same day, he told his parents that he wanted to live in Japan with me. I was going back after a few days to Japan that time I think." He explained.

"Wow…"

Grabbing his backpack, with his and Sakura's things in it, and his jacket, he said as he threw the box to his luggage and spotted his little box without the trouble of Sakura noticing and leaving the place a mess, "We better get going if you'd like to stick around the fountain more." With that, Sakura ran towards Syaoran, after she had worn her winter blouse and tied her jacket to her waist, and wrapped her right arm in Syaoran's left and leaned her head on his shoulder. "You better fix this room when we get back…" she said as Syaoran nervously laughed. He knew that if he didn't fix the room as Sakura wanted him to, he'd have to run away for Sakura would chase him until he would.

That afternoon, Sakura and Syaoran had walked around the vicinity of the Trevi fountain. Tired and wanting to sit down, Sakura had dragged Syaoran to sit by the stairs near the fountain.

As usual, there are a lot of people hanging there, couples to be exact. "I'll go get some drinks ok?" Syaoran said to Sakura who just nodded while admiring the view more.

While Syaoran was getting drinks, Sakura saw a little booth that sold teddy bears. Thinking that she should stay where she is and wait for Syaoran, temptation got into her. Those teddy bears were just the cutest that she had ever seen so far. She stood up and walked towards the booth. After a while, more and more people came in to check on the teddy bears.

When Syaoran returned, he found no sign of Sakura anywhere he looked. Worried and frightened, he dropped the drinks that he bought, causing them to spill on the floor, and ran all over the place in search for Sakura.

Afraid that she might get lost and never find Syaoran, Sakura fought her way off the crowd and went back to the spot where Syaoran had left her. Problem is, she didn't know where it was anymore.

Still searching and never wanting to give up, Syaoran decided to check back to the fountain steps. _Where are you…_ Syaoran asked himself worriedly. He then walked down to a certain booth that had a crowd. He tried to ask the people there if they had seen a description of Sakura that he gave them. "Have you seen a girl that was wearing a pink blouse and had a green jacket tied up on her waist? Her hair was short and hazelnut in color…?"

The word "Sorry…" was what he got mostly; either that or a confused look, with their actions reflecting a no. For short, no one saw her, or maybe noticed her. Searching around the fountain and still asking people who may have seen her, he finally saw someone crying by the ledge of the fountain.

_Oh my God… I'm lost… Syaoran… Where are you…_ Sakura thought as she found her way to the fountain. She then began to cry hopelessly and sat on the ledge of the fountain. People where passing by her thinking that she was crazy or something. Of course, a lot of people were there to make a wish by tossing the coin into the fountain after the wish. Maybe some of them would have wished that the girl who was crying would find her way home or something.

Looking at Sakura while she was crying, you'd think she was a little girl who got lost or was separated from her parents while they were on their tour since she didn't look like a French "girl". She was indeed a Japanese woman. She's an incoming college student but she still looked like a child. That's one thing that was cute about her.

"Sakura!" Syaoran yelled worriedly as he ran towards the girl that he saw crying. Of course, he could be wrong. But, what chance does he have…? He could be right…

Hearing her name, Sakura stopped sobbing and looked up to the person calling her name. She knew that only one person would call her that worried. Smiling as she saw him, she ran towards him and hugged him as if they'll never see each other again. "Syaoran!"

People who may have wanted to ask her about her parents stayed behind. They were all concerned about her being lost. Who wouldn't? I mean, if someone was lost, you would help the person, right? Especially when you think that he or she is a child even though he or she is not… When they saw Sakura look up, it was like they had something lifted off their shoulders. At least they can move on and not worry about her anymore since someone had come for her. They had all walked off to separate directions.

"Sakura… I was so worried…" he whispered into her ear.

"I'm sorry…" she said as she continued to sob on his shirt.

Not minding Sakura's tears on his shirt, Syaoran continued to rub her back and comfort her. "Shh… It's alright… Come on… Let's go eat something before we get back home. I don't want to eat that stuff that Eriol and Tomoyo would serve…" he said to cheer her up.

And it worked; she stopped sobbing and giggled a bit as she looked at Syaoran with a smile on her face and with trail marks on her cheeks. "Look at you… You're a mess…" he said again as he wiped her tear trails with his thumb. "You even got my shirt wet!" he said jokingly.

Pretending to be angry at Syaoran, Sakura pouted and started to chase Syaoran around the fountain as they both laughed. "Syaoran!" she yelled. People who see them would definitely think that they are lost children who are taking care of each other while they looked for their parents. Some of the people who were waiting for someone to call Sakura thought that.

As they got back home, they were both exhausted from all that walking and running around by the fountain. They once again found Tomoyo and Eriol fighting for the food. Sakura immediately went to them, stopped the fight and told them to just order food and that she and Syaoran already had their dinner.

Back at their room, after cleaning up his mess – throwing all his clothes back inside the suitcase not bothering to fold them up; Syaoran stared at the green box that he held as he was outside the balcony wearing his green PJ's and a jacket – hey, it's too cold to wear only boxers and a shirt. Sakura saw him outside after she had changed into her white PJ's. She then grabbed her jacket, wore it and walked out to the balcony. "Hey…" she said.

Keeping the box to his pocket when he heard Sakura, Syaoran turned around and found her walking towards him. "Hey… Had a great day?" he asked.

"Sure did…" Sakura said as she leaned over the railing, "Thanks Syao…" she said while looking at him and then smiled. Then she had turned her gaze to the sky and stared at the stars. "Wow… It must be nice to stargaze here every night, wouldn't it…"

Not listening to Sakura, Syaoran looked down and had his hand in his pocket where he kept the box. "Sakura…" he finally said after a few seconds of silence.

Sakura then looked at Syaoran with a smile. "Yeah?"

"I love you…"

"I love you too…" she replied and kissed him under the moonlight.

After a minute, they broke up and Sakura slowly opened her eyes. Syaoran, on the other hand, had his hands again in his pocket. Noticed, Sakura asked, "What are you holding in you pocket…?"

"Something that I've wanted to give to you since the day you said I love you." He said.

Syaoran then pulled out his hand with the box in his palm. Sakura looking from Syaoran then to the box; whist Syaoran looking from the box then to Sakura; he finally opened it.

"Oh my God… Syaoran!" Sakura said.

o-o-o-o-o- ERIOL AND TOMOYO -o-o-o-o-o

The got home around an hour before Sakura and Syaoran. Decided to try the cooking again, they had both grabbed a cook book that was provided in the penthouse looking for something good to eat. And again, they had started to fight about the food…

After Sakura had told them that they had already ate and that both of them should just order their food, they gave up. "I don't think we'll accomplish any of this cooking thing here… Maybe when we get home we could try it again…" Eriol said.

"Guess so…" Tomoyo replied. "So, you choose the food. I can eat any kind… My stomach is growling."

Eriol nodded and kissed Tomoyo before he went to find the delivery book which was at the living room by the phone. Finally settling on the food, he had asked Tomoyo, who was sitting at the living room watching television, what she wanted to order in the restaurant that he had picked up, showing her the menu.

While they both waited for the food, Tomoyo and Eriol both sat at the living room snuggled close to each other. Tomoyo was also hugging the teddy bear that Eriol had given him the day they went to the fountain. It was a white teddy bear that had a lot of fur and was so soft that anyone would love it easily.

"Eriol…?" Tomoyo said as she looked up to Eriol.

Looking down to Tomoyo, their eyes met. But, Tomoyo decided to break the contact. "Thanks for everything. This is the vacation that I had always wanted since my father died…" She said as she was staring at the teddy bear.

"Hey… It's nothing. As long as you and my friends are happy, I'll do anything." He said with a smile.

"Thanks…" Tomoyo said as she began to cry with the mention of her father.

Noticing that Tomoyo was crying, Eriol hugged her closer to him and rubbed her back for comfort. "Sshhh… Just cry it out… I'm here for you…" he said.

"You'll never leave me, right?"

"Never…"

Just then, the door bell rang signaling them that the food was there. Eriol gently removed himself from the crying Tomoyo and walked towards the door to receive the food.

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** Not my longest but this is the longest that I have posted. I was about to post a chapter for That Little Notebook before that was actually 6 pages… But I decided to cut it down to 2 chapters… hehe… Anyway… There's the chapter… I hope you guys liked it… I am now working on the next chapter… But please, don't expect me to have it posted soon cause I wanna get out of the house… (sweat-drop) it's too boring here and I gotta get out. Plus, I won't be having computer access by May 3-7 cause we'll be going out of town and to another part of the country… Fun… Anyway, gotta go! Thanks, thanks again for reading… Hope it won't be a bother some if you would post a review for me to know what you guys think about it. Give some suggestions if you like… I take them into consideration… (smile)


	9. Troubled

**CHAPTER NINE: TOUBLED**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Hello, hello! I'm back with yet another chapter… Wow… This is my fasted update, ever! Well, let's just say that I've got nothing to do and has a lot of plots going on in my mind… hehe… Anyway, again, I thank you all those who reviewed the last chapter…

o- halliwells  
o- Dreaming in Anime

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Card Captor Sakura

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**LAST CHAPTER:**

_Noticing that Tomoyo was crying, Eriol hugged her closer to him and rubbed her back for comfort. "Sshhh… Just cry it out… I'm here for you…" he said._

"_You'll never leave me, right?"_

"_Never…"_

_Just then, the door bell rang signaling them that the food was there. Eriol gently removed himself from the crying Tomoyo and walked towards the door to receive the food._

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

Inside the penthouse, two people are eating in the dining room which can be seen as soon as a person enters the penthouse. They were both eating silently but they were sitting next to each other. Obviously these people decided to have something delivered after another attempt to cook something for them and for their friends. Since it was a penthouse, it had a separate room for a kitchen. And since it was a kitchen, ordinarily, it would be a mess but not that much. This is an exemption. There were ingredients all over the place. Since they haven't yet decided on what to cook, they had both pulled out anything that they think they could use for the "food" that they would cook. Unfortunately, they gave up and forgot about the ingredients that they took out and just ordered some food for the both of them since their friends already ate, as they said.

After eating, they finally realized that they left the kitchen a mess. They knew that the next day when Sakura sees it, she'll definitely never let them forget about it, neither will Syaoran. Tomoyo will never forget about it either, leaving something so dirty, yet again a mess. After cleaning up the mess, Eriol and Tomoyo retreated to their room.

Tomoyo sat down at her bed which was near the window – they didn't bother to fix the beds so that both of the beds were beside each other without the night table sticking in between. "In a few more days we'll be heading to Venice…" Tomoyo said.

Eriol, who got a blue shirt and a pair of boxers from his suitcase, said as he straightened up, "Yeah… Anything in particular that you want to see there?"

"Nothing really… I'm just worried about Sakura… Her…" Tomoyo started.

Now wanting to listen to her story, Eriol walked towards Tomoyo and sat beside her. "What is it…" he asked.

"Sakura… Her ex-boyfriend is there…"

"What?" Eriol asked, not knowing that Sakura had a boyfriend before. "What made you think so? I mean, that they would see each other… Venice is a big place… Well, not that big but…" he continued.

Tomoyo, even though with Eriol's assuring words, still had a bad feeling about them going to Venice. "I don't know… I really, really have a bad feeling about it… The last time the guy, Kaji, and her talked she mentioned something about him being in Venice. But yes, that was 4 years ago… Before Syaoran came back from Hong Kong."

"Did he do anything to Sakura before that got you so worried about it? Besides, wouldn't Sakura be worried too…?" he continued to question her.

Sighing, Tomoyo relaxed a bit before explaining. "He… He was too obsessed about Sakura that she was too dense to even notice. He wanted her for his own until before he was forced out of Japan by his parents that lived in Venice. He said that if Sakura won't do it with him, he'd… He'd do something to her family."

"WHAT THE HELL?" Eriol barked. Ever since Sakura and Syaoran knew each other, Eriol was giving her the "big brother" attitude. Just like Touya, he was protecting her from anyone that could inflict pain to her mentally. He knew that Syaoran could protect her from physical pain. He trusted him with that. "And does Sakura still know that this Kaji guy is here?" repeating his previous question.

"I don't know…" Tomoyo had said once again. "Look, I'm really worried about Sakura… Maybe we should tell Syaoran about this…"

"Maybe we really should." Eriol replied. "Sakura ought to know about it too if ever she had forgotten about him."

With that decided, both of them walked towards Sakura and Syaoran's room.

o ------------------------------------------- o

"Oh my God, Syaoran… It's gorgeous…" Sakura said as she handled the "thing" that she got from inside the box. It was a necklace with a ring resembling as its pendant that had their names engraved inside it saying "Sakura and Syaoran".

Syaoran then took the necklace from Sakura, opened the lock of the necklace and reached to the back of her neck and locked it safe. Then, he placed both his hands on her shoulders and rested his forehead on hers. "Did you like it?" he asked her.

"No… I love it… Thank you…" she replied with a smile. And with that, Syaoran leaned in and kissed her. Since they were beside the bed, Syaoran had leaned in so much to Sakura causing them to fall of the bed, still kissing.

A few minutes later, the door opened without a knock with Eriol and Tomoyo flying in. "Okay, break it up… Break it up! We have something important to tell you guys." Eriol said as he found himself sitting at their bed dragging Tomoyo with her who looked flushed at seeing her best friend making out with Syaoran, which by the way she didn't find anything bad about it.

Sakura and Syaoran separated and blushed. "What are you doing here, Hiiragizawa……" Syaoran asked coldly and they both stood up, still blushing.

"Like I said, we have something important to tell you guys." Eriol said, repeating himself. Then he looked at Tomoyo who was looking at Sakura that had confusion flashed in her eyes.

"What is it Tomoyo?" Sakura asked gently, still confused why her best friend was staring at here like crazy.

Sighing once again and still didn't want to tell Sakura about it, it's not like she had any other choice. She was going to recover a pain that struck her heart years ago. "It's about… Kaji…"

"What about the bastard?" Syaoran barked. Obviously, he knew him. How?

"You know him, Syaoran?" Tomoyo asked.

"Sakura told me everything about him the day I came back. I saw her crying at the park about it." Syaoran explained. "I think that was the day that he was… you know…"

"What about Kaji… Tomoyo…" Sakura asked slowly and terrified.

"Not that I wanted you to be frightened, Sakura… It's just that I remembered him telling you that he was going to live in Venice…"

Sakura's eyes grew. Why had she forgotten that! "Shit…" she muttered. Losing her balance, Sakura fell back to the bed with both her palms holding her forehead. "Why did I forget about that?" she yelled out and then started to cry.

"Sakura…" Syaoran held her, trying to comfort her as he sat beside her. "It'll be alright… I'll be there for you…"

Sakura leaned on Syaoran's shoulder, still sobbing. "How can I forget such a thing… He was so cruel Syaoran…" Sakura said with sobs in between. Then she continued, "He wanted… He wanted to kill Touya and… and…−"

"Shh…" Syaoran said as he hugged her tightly. "I'll be there…" Then something suddenly came to his mind. He then looked at Eriol and Tomoyo who were looking at Sakura, obviously thinking of something that can make them all go to Venice and NOT see Kaji. "Or better yet, I think we shouldn't go to Venice at all." He said as if it was an order.

Even though they knew that Venice was a place that Sakura would totally like, they still agreed to the idea. Sakura, on the other hand, wasn't listening much to what they were talking about. What they will plan, she just planned to go through it; even though it meant that she wouldn't see Venice. Hey, happiness wouldn't be the only thing that's important in this trip… It's also the safety of others and their trust to each other.

After three more days of traveling around Rome, they finally had their last two days there before they move on, supposedly to Venice.

"Alrighty then… Where shall we go in two days…" Eriol said as he sat down at the couch in the living room where everyone had gathered. He just hung up after canceling their reserved rooms in Venice. He had also grabbed the map of Europe on his way to the couch, opened it and laid it open at the table in front of them.

Trying his best to cheer Sakura up, Syaoran closed his eyes and pointed to the map. Of course, he had on idea where his finger had landed. Sakura was just staring at him like he was some crazy lunatic that was pointing to the map, like he had no where to run. "What are you doing Syaoran…?" Sakura asked as she started to giggle.

Hearing her giggles, Syaoran grinned. Little by little, he knew that he would cheer her up. He did receive a giggle from her. "Hey! I was just trying to help…" he said sarcastically.

Smacking him in the arm playfully, Sakura continued to giggle. "Syaoran… We are trying to look for a place here…" she said.

Tomoyo and Eriol just sat there, happy that they are actually seeing this. They weren't running around like little kids anymore. They were already mature about their jokes. "That's exactly what I'm doing… Can't you see?" Syaoran said trying his best to imitate the English accent, though he didn't have one.

Sakura's giggle turned out into a fit of laughter. Eriol and Tomoyo joined in as well. "What? Don't you think I look like an English man…?" Syaoran asked as he posed a little.

"Be serious, alright…" Sakura said as she was still laughing.

"Come on… I was just trying to find a place where we can all enjoy ourselves…"

Starting to calm up, Sakura was able to smack him again. But this time, it was in his head. "Syaoran… Stop kidding around." She said.

Syaoran stared at her with narrowed eyes and with a pout formed in his mouth. "What did you do that for…" he asked. "I'm going to get you for this..." he continued.

"Oh…? Whatcha gonna do?" Sakura asked as she leaned closer to Syaoran. Obviously, she had already stopped crying from the way she was already acting.

With a grin on his face, Syaoran held Sakura's waist and said, "This…" then he began to tickle her.

Now, Eriol and Tomoyo were both scratching their heads. They were gathered here to fix their vacation, right? Not to tickle someone and have fun.

"Syaoran! Stop it!" Sakura yelled. Lucky for her, she was able to escape Syaoran's grasps and ran all over the living room. So much for thinking that they already thought maturely…

When Sakura reached the couches again as she ran away from Syaoran, Tomoyo grabbed her hand and had her sit down the couch and stared at her in disbelief. Sakura, knowing what Tomoyo is thinking, looked at her with a sorry expression. "Gomen…" she said as she bit her lip and faced a bit down while still looking at Tomoyo.

Syaoran then sat beside Sakura and said as well, "Sorry…" the same way Sakura did.

"It's alright… At least you got her to cheer up…" Eriol said as he smiled to Syaoran.

"Hey… I think that's the only thing Syaoran's good at…" Tomoyo joked.

With his eye brows raised, Syaoran looked at Tomoyo. "Not true…"

"Uh huh…"

Sighing, Sakura then had her eyes closed and did what Syaoran did earlier; pointed with her index finger, at the map to specify their next location. When she opened her eyes to look at the others, they all had the expression like they wanted to burst out with laughter. "What?", was all she could say as she stared at them, her finger still at the map.

With that, Tomoyo, Eriol and Syaoran all laughed out loud. When Tomoyo had calmed up a bit, she said, "You want us to go outside Europe… Are you that desperate…?"

"I thought you wanted me to be serious about it… Now YOUR doing it." Syaoran said as he had also calmed down.

Sakura then looked at where she was pointing. Her finger was outside the map. If it was the map of the world, I'd say it was somewhere in Russia.

Just when Eriol had silenced Tomoyo and Syaoran from their giggling as they still weren't calmed up from laughing, he had made the final decision. "Okay… I'm tired and I want to go to bed… So is it alright if I make the decision…?" he asked.

When they had all nodded and were all looking at Eriol who now had droopy eyes, obviously tired from the tour that day. "Paris will be our next stop. Though it is a bit far from here which may be good as you can see we are somewhat near Venice, I'm thinking that we can take the train there and just rest in the train for a day or two, if I'm not mistaken, on its way."

"Paris…?" Sakura started to think. "Oh! I'd love to see that tower… What's it called again, the Eiffel Tower?"

Tomoyo nodded with a smile as she had also thought about the place. "Yeah… It'd be nice to go there. It was my dream to go there when I was a kid. I can't believe that I'll really be there…" she said as she had once again started to day dream about Paris.

Sighing at last, Eriol finally stood up. "Okay… Now that that's settled, I'll be calling the hotel where I stayed there before and have reservations. As well as the tours… Will you guys get a tour?" he asked facing Sakura and Syaoran.

Syaoran knew that place though not that much. He's been there before with Eriol when they were still kids, every year. "As much as I wouldn't like to get on one, I don't quite remember the place anymore… Unless you can provide me with a map, that'd be great."

Thinking hard, Eriol replied to him after a few seconds. "I think I have two maps at my stuff. I'll go check it out tomorrow and tell you. If I don't have an extra, I think we could just buy another to save up from the tours."

"I guess that'll be the most practical thing to do…" Sakura said.

Tomoyo on the other hand was already asleep at the couch. It was a tough day for all of them and they had better go to sleep; it is already 11 in the evening… "Okay then… I'd better take Tomoyo and go take a rest. You two would do best to rest as well." He said as he started to pick up Tomoyo, bridal style.

"Yeah… Guess so…" Sakura and Syaoran said as they both stood up from the couch. They had separated ways when Eriol had entered their room and Syaoran theirs.

Even though it was already that time of the night, Sakura still wasn't sleepy. She sat at her side of the bed and stared out the window. Syaoran on the other hand was already preparing himself to sleep before he noticed Sakura staring blankly.

"Something wrong?" he asked as he approached her by crawling across the bed and sat beside her with his arms around her shoulders.

Sakura leaned on his shoulders and said, "Syaoran… Even though we are going somewhere far from Venice, I', still troubled about Kaji… I mean he might be there… You know… He might− "

Holding her tighter, Syaoran said, "Sshhh… Just sleep through this… Even if he is there, I won't let him get near you, ever. All that you need is a good night's sleep… You'll forget all about it tomorrow…"

Hugging Syaoran and closing her eyes, Sakura replied, "I hope so, Syaoran… I know you'll be there…" and, she finally fell asleep in Syaoran's arms.

Noticing that she had already fallen asleep, Syaoran had fixed her so that she lay comfortably in the bed. Then he crawled in beside her hugging her around her waist. _I'll always protect you… No matter what…_

o ------------------------------------------- o

As Eriol entered their room, he had laid Tomoyo at her bed and tucked her in. Staring at her, Eriol had leaned down to kiss her in the forehead and whispered three words that even though Tomoyo was asleep, made her smile, "I love you…"

Then, he walked over to his bed, closed the lamp and slept his worries away.

o ------------------------------------------- o

The next day, Eriol had told the people at the desks at the lobby that they'll be checking out the next day. "You guys have another branch at Paris, right?"

"Yes sir… It also has a great view of the Eiffel Tower…" the guy replied. "Would you be checking in there and use you free days?" he asked immediately.

When Eriol nodded, the guy then said, "Okay… I will be cooperating with the receptionists there and tell them. Thank you, sir and we hope that you enjoy your stay in Europe." He replied with a smile.

"Thanks." Eriol replied then went back to Tomoyo who was sitting by the lounge looking at some magazines that they had there. "Shall we?" he asked as he approached her.

o ------------------------------------------- o

The light was on her face and he couldn't stop starring at it. She had this angelic face when she was asleep and had a cute face when awake. The feeling of being starred at came to her senses as she opened her emerald eyes only to find amber starring at them.

"Good morning…" Syaoran said.

Closing her eyes once again, Sakura stretched out and replied to him as she rolled and snuggled closer to him, "'Morning…"

Wrapping his arms around her, Syaoran asked, "What do you want to do today? Still want to go out?"

Sakura then looked up at Syaoran with a thoughtful expression. "Hmm… I don't think we have explored Rome that much… But I've been thinking… Maybe we can go shopping… You know, to grab a few souvenirs..."

"That'd be great…" Syaoran replied. Then he removed his arms around her to let her roll off the bed and get into the shower.

Once they were on their way to the mall walking hand in hand while Sakura, at times, was hugging Syaoran's left arm and leaned in on his shoulder as they were both laughing and talking, a pair of gray eyes where watching them. _I missed you… I didn't know you were here… I wished you would have told me…_

Chill coming from her spine had made Sakura tremble for a bit. But, Syaoran didn't fail to notice this. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah… I just get the feeling that we are being watched…"

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** Yeah… So there it is… I hope you guys liked it… Hmm… Who is that mysterious person…? Could it be Kaji? Hehe… Find out in the next chapter…

By the way, for those who live in Europe that read this, I'm sorry if I get anything mixed up... I do try my best to grab a map and research for a bit before typing anything in but I'm really sorry if I do get something wrong or mixed up...

By the way, I don't think I'll be able to do any of this fast update for the next few days as I'll be leaving… Just, keep an eye for any next updates on Country Roads… Please don't forget to review, by the way… And please, do leave suggestions as I am taking them in consideration… (smile)


	10. Protect Me

**CHAPTER TEN: PROTECT ME**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Yehay! The tenth chapter…! During that trip that we had, I was getting a lot of ideas… As in scattered ideas… Sadly, I was only able to write one as we were at the beach while I had those scattered ideas flowing in my head. But, the time we had landed back home, my scattered ideas suddenly vanished and nothing came. That is why I took so long before I could create this chapter. Well, anyway, thanks to all those that reviewed! You guys rock! Awabshu guys! (smile)

o- sakandliluver  
o- halliwells  
o- Musette Fuijiwara  
o- cloudsinthesky  
o- Ginnezu  
o- dilly-sammas luver

Anyway, on with the story…

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Card Captor Sakura

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**LAST CHAPTER:**

_Once they were on their way to the mall walking hand in hand while Sakura, at times, was hugging Syaoran's left arm and leaned in on his shoulder as they were both laughing and talking, a pair of gray eyes where watching them._ I missed you… I didn't know you were here… I wished you would have told me…

_Chill coming from her spine had made Sakura tremble for a bit. But, Syaoran didn't fail to notice this. "Are you alright?" he asked._

"_Yeah… I just get the feeling that we are being watched…"_

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

"Just because I left and that we were separated for four years doesn't mean that we're over…" a person hiding and following our couple said while it stared at Sakura and Syaoran who were having fun at the mall. It was a miracle that the person didn't lose them. After all, it is the mall and many people shop.

That afternoon, a pair of eyes was following a couple who were on their way to the mall to buy some things. Even though the girl had seemed to notice that someone was following them, she just shrugged it off and enjoyed the day with her boyfriend.

"I wonder where Eriol and Tomoyo went." Sakura asked as they entered the mall.

Shrugging as his response to her question, Syaoran then said, "Maybe they went to attend a cooking lesson or something…"

"Syaoran!" Sakura said as she smacked his arm playfully.

He chuckled a bit before he could reply, "Hey, admit it… The food that they prepared wasn't at all tasty… It doesn't even LOOK tasty…"

Sakura then giggled with his comment. Soon, Syaoran found a shirt that he liked while they were walking around. He then took Sakura's hand and led her inside. "Huh? This is something new… I don't remember you dragging me inside a store where you found something you liked…" Sakura commented as Syaoran removed his grasp from Sakura's hand and grabbed the shirt that he liked. Sakura chuckled as she watched Syaoran. _He's like a child…_ she thought.

"You wait here…" Syaoran said as he led Sakura to a couch inside the store. "I'll just fit this shirt, alright?" he continued.

Nodding, Sakura sat down. But the time that Syaoran entered the fitting room, she stood up and roamed around the store. She then picked up the shirt that Syaoran got a while ago and examined it. _So this is his type of shirt…_ she thought once again. The shirt was just simple. It had a few prints and designs at the front and a few more at the back. Oh, and it was by the color green. Though Sakura had tried her best to give him a shirt before, she really didn't know his type of shirt and his size. Now was her chance.

After folding the shirt, Sakura then roamed around the store again and looked for similar shirts. She found one, giggled at the word written, and decided that Syaoran might like it. So she ordered an extra large of the shirt and threw it at the top of Syaoran's fitting room door and yelled, "Try that. Once you have it on, show yourself."

Inside, when Syaoran saw the shirt, he slid it towards him and examined it. It was black, something that he actually didn't have in his wardrobe, and it had the word, "NERD" written at the front. He chuckled at it and turned it around to read the words at the back. It said, "Got a problem with that!", that made him chuckled once again. After deciding that he liked the fit of the shirt that he got, he removed it and hung it at the hanger. Then he pulled on the shirt that Sakura had hung at the door. It had fitted well, as in the fit that he liked. And he liked the shirt. How did Sakura know his size? A lucky guess…

Syaoran walked out of the fitting room to show himself to Sakura with a nerdy smile on his face.

Sakura saw him walk out of the fitting room and looked at him. She then gave a laugh at it and said as she calmed down, "Fits you well!"

"I know… I wonder how you found out that I like these kinds of shirts…" he said sarcastically.

"I don't know… Maybe the word just fits your personality?" she said as she tried to look cute on him.

Syaoran then walked towards Sakura and pinched her cheek. "Ow! Hey! I told you not to do that…" Sakura said.

"Ow…? You still hate it…?" Syaoran said as he now walked back to the fitting room to change back to his t-shirt.

When he reappeared from the fitting room giving both shirts to the saleslady and nodding indicating that he'll get both shirts, Sakura wasn't at the couch anymore. Worried, he searched the whole store for Sakura that she maybe hiding in one of the fitting rooms or behind racks. But she wasn't. He tried to calm down and sat at the couch and dialed Sakura's number.

After a few rings, she still wasn't answering her phone. Worried had over come Syaoran. He then looked at the saleslady to which he gave his shirts and walked over to her. "Sorry… Um… Maybe I can get those some other time. My girlfriend is missing. Have you noticed her?" he asked.

"I saw her being dragged by some guy out of the store as soon as you got back in and went that way…" the saleslady said as she pointed to the left.

"Okay… Thanks… And sorry…" Syaoran said before he had almost dashed out of the store. Upon hearing that Sakura was dragged out of the store, and by a guy, had made his blood boil.

o ------------------------------------------- o

When Syaoran closed the fitting room door, Sakura just sat there and waited for him. But someone grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the store while people were staring at them. The person that dragged her out led her to the passageway to the fire exit. The person pushed Sakura to the wall and trapped her with his hands pushed to the wall. "Hello Sakura… We meet again…"

Sakura's eyes widened as she recognized the person that dragged her out. "K-Kaji… W-What are y-you d-doing here…" she asked, nervously as she stared at him.

Kaji removed his hands from the wall and looked back to Sakura, "I'm having my vacation here since I didn't get to go out much after four years of high school in Venice." He said. "I was wondering when I would get to see you again… But I didn't realize that it was this soon, and with someone… We were never though, my dear…" he said as he saw Syaoran pass by, obviously worried and looking for Sakura.

"Syaoran…!" Sakura managed to yell before Kaji covered her mouth with his hands.

"Oh… Is that the name of your precious boyfriend…?" he said, now looking at her.

o ------------------------------------------- o

He had been searching left and right for any sign of Sakura. _I should have listened to her…_ he thought. Now, he was feeling guilty for telling Sakura that she was only tried for feeling that someone was watching them. Now, this happened.

"Syaoran…!" Syaoran heard as he passed by the fire exit.

Noticing that the voice sounded like Sakura's, he stopped and looked back. But, he saw no one. But, he did saw shadows by the fire exit. Curiosity struck him. He wanted to check it out. Besides, nothing can happen if he just looked, right?

Walking slowly towards the fire exit, Syaoran saw Sakura and another guy who had his hand covering her mouth. Sakura looked at Syaoran with plead in her eyes and tears crawling out of them. That was one thing that Syaoran hated to see, Sakura crying. He was furious; his anger was definitely at its boiling point. He walked slowly towards Sakura and the guy and he held the guys free arm as it tried to punch him. "No one makes Sakura cry…" he said as he glared at the guy. Then he twisted his arm. The guy gave a small yelp and freed Sakura. With that, Sakura ran towards Syaoran and hugged him, still crying.

"I repeat, NO ONE makes her cry… Do you hear me…" he said with his narrow and fiery eyes glued to the guy.

With another glare coming from the guy to Syaoran while he was holding his twisted arm, he walked away, mumbling.

o ------------------------------------------- o

"I will get you for that, bastard…"

o ------------------------------------------- o

Holding Sakura, Syaoran led her to a bench that was just near by. "You alright…?" he asked her, still rubbing her back. "Who was that?" he asked. He has never seen Kaji before.

Sakura was still shaking from shock and fright. "K-Kaji…"

"WHAT!" Syaoran yelled out, loud enough for only the both of them to hear. "What the hell is that bastard doing here!" he blurted out again.

"He mentioned something about taking a break. Syaoran… Let's go home…" she said as she pleaded.

"Even if you don't say it, I will take you home." Syaoran replied as he stood up and guided Sakura towards the hotel.

When they reached the hotel, Tomoyo and Eriol were both there, talking at the living room. When they saw Sakura and Syaoran enter the room, they noticed that Sakura still looked a bit frightened from the happenings.

"What happened?" Tomoyo asked the minute she saw Sakura.

Before answering, Syaoran led Sakura to the couch across Eriol and Tomoyo and sat her down then sitting down himself. "Kaji." It was the only word he said but it made both of them furious.

"What the hell is HE doing here!" Tomoyo yelled. Then she stood up and walked towards Sakura. "Oh Sakura… Are you alright? What did he do to you…" she asked.

For this first time, Eriol was really, really angry to the point that he wanted to kill someone. "I swear, if he lays his filthy hands on Sakura, he'll never see the light of day again!" he said.

Upon hearing that, Sakura's fright as well as Tomoyo and Syaoran's worry suddenly faded away as they all stared at Eriol. "Um… Excuse me… Is Eriol around? Who are you…" Syaoran asked as he tilted his head while both Sakura and Tomoyo laughed out.

"Just between the four of us," Tomoyo started as she calmed down, "I like the goofy Eriol better than this side of his…"

"Man Eriol… You sure know how to make people laugh… Especially in these situations…" Syaoran said.

"Hey! I wasn't kidding…" he said as he retook his place at the couch.

Sakura then calmed down from her fits of laughter and stared at her friends. _They are the best friends that anyone can have…_ she thought.

"So, what exactly happened?" Tomoyo asked.

Syaoran began the story. When he got to the part about his shirts, Sakura yelped a bit. "Where ARE your shirts?" she asked.

"Hey! Do you expect me to take a few minutes to buy them when I know that you aren't in the store anymore and had gone missing?" he said.

Sakura giggled a bit and hugged Syaoran. "You're too sweet for your own good… And that was such a rare occasion…" Then she let go and Syaoran continued the story with Sakura's help when she told them about what Kaji had told her.

"Good thing we are leaving tomorrow…" Eriol said. "Tomoyo and I fixed our flight for tomorrow. Instead of taking the train there since it will be a long ride, I just booked us a flight at 10 in the morning to Paris." He continued.

"Okay… But is it alright with you guys to drop by that store tomorrow? I mean, they open by 9, right?" Sakura asked referring to the store where she and Syaoran were before the Kaji incident.

"Yeah… But we have to be at the airport an hour earlier you know…" Tomoyo replied. "Besides, I don't want you to be there anymore… Who knows when Kaji might show up again…"

Syaoran turned to Sakura and looked at her. "She's right Sakura… I don't want you getting hurt…" he said.

"Oh alright…" she replied with a pout. Then she asked, "You guys had dinner?"

"We were talking about what we were going to order before you and Syaoran came." Eriol said.

Standing up, Sakura then replied as she walked towards the kitchen slowly. "I'll just cook something for you guys… I mean, you must have missed home cooked meals, right?" she said.

"I'll help you with that…" Syaoran said as he stood up and walked towards the kitchen as well.

Both Eriol and Tomoyo then stood up and walked towards the kitchen while Tomoyo replied, "Yeah… I kinda miss home cooked meals… Can I help?"

Before answering, Sakura looked at Syaoran. Then she said, "Honey, I'd love to… But, I just think that you and Eriol have some catching up to do…? I mean, I don't think that you two are having much time with everything that's been happening to me…" A lie… Of course, after that meal that they had prepared before, who knew who screwed up. Let's just say that it's better to be safe than sorry for this couple.

With Sakura's reply, both Eriol and Tomoyo blushed. "No… We were just talking about our trip to Paris before you guys came…" Eriol defended.

"Yeah… Well anyway, maybe you can leave this to us for a change… I mean, you got your shot at it, right?" Syaoran said as he tried to make Tomoyo and Eriol leave the kitchen as Sakura was preparing the ingredients, walking around the kitchen.

"But…" But before Tomoyo could finish her sentence, Syaoran had closed the sliding door that led to the kitchen. "Ok… guess they did want to be left alone…" Eriol replied. Poor Eriol… Too dense for his own good.

Both of them walked to their room soon after being kicked out of the kitchen.

o ------------------------------------------- o

As soon as he was able to close the sliding door behind Eriol and Tomoyo, Syaoran sighed. "Thank God…" he whispered as he walked closer to where Sakura was as she was still roaming around the kitchen but this time, looking for the utensils.

"So, what are we having?" he asked. Sakura was now ready to chop some of the ingredients. Syaoran, on the other hand, held Sakura's waist and placed his chin on his shoulders and kissing her neck.

Sakura just leaned on his head while she continued to chop and said, "Hm… I really don't know… I was thinking that we could use some Japanese and maybe Chinese cuisines to refresh the mode… You know… I kinda miss your Chinese cuisines…" then she stopped chopping and turned to look at Syaoran.

On the other hand, Syaoran had turned Sakura for her to face him and not the counter. He didn't care if her hands were dirty because of what she was chopping but he held her hands and placed it around his neck so that she was kind of hugging him. Then he did the same to his arm, he had them around her waist as they stared at each other. "Really now…"

She nodded. Soon, Syaoran found himself leaning in to Sakura. Of course, this wasn't the first time that they kissed. When their lips met, Syaoran then pulled her closer to him as Sakura did too. And they kissed like the world would soon come to an end.

While they were kissing, someone's tummy suddenly growled loud enough for the both of them to hear. That broke their kiss. "I see you're that hungry…" Sakura said as she still had her arms around Syaoran's neck.

"Yeah… So better cook something up before I eat you…" Syaoran said before separating himself to Sakura and gave her a quick kiss square in the lips.

"Fine cookie monster… But you have to prepare the Chinese meal… I still haven't mastered it…" Sakura said as she had spilled out something she didn't want anyone to know.

But, to her dismay, Syaoran heard it. "Mastered? You mean you've been cooking Chinese meals before?"

"Uhh… No…" Sakura replied. And, Syaoran could tell, she is a terrible liar…

"Right… Like I'll believe that… So, for whom were you cooking Chinese meals for, if I may ask…" he said.

"Well, I just thought that I'd make one for you before… But, I just didn't get anything right…" Sakura confessed… This time, it was the truth.

When she heard that Syaoran will return in a few days, years ago, she had tried to cook Chinese meals and surprise him at his apartment. But, nothing came to. Since then, she had tried every night to cook Chinese meals and bring them to Syaoran the next day, if something came out good. Unfortunately, nothing did. After a few days, she finally gave up.

Syaoran now looked at her with narrowed eyes and a grin. "You think you can beat Li Syaoran's Chinese cuisines?" he said to Sakura in a joking tone.

"Well… You'll never know… I might..." she said as she turned her head to the side while she looked at Syaoran.

"Oh no… You're already good at Japanese cuisines… Please leave something for me to be good at…?" he asked, jokingly pleading to her.

Sakura closed one of her eyes as she still looked at Syaoran pretending to think. "I'll have to think about that… But for now, please cook something… I'm starving…" she said as she had now turned back to the chopping board.

With her orders, Syaoran now grabbed another chopping board and had started his chief mode.

o ------------------------------------------- o

Sakura and Syaoran had finally finished cooking. While Syaoran cleaned up the kitchen, Sakura had set-up the table with four plates, four fork and spoons and four glasses. She had also laid down what she and Syaoran had prepared. What was on the table was for Tomoyo and Eriol to find out.

o ------------------------------------------- o

Eriol and Tomoyo were both lying on their back on Eriol's bed. No, they didn't do anything. They just laid there staring at the ceiling, talking.

"You think this will last…?" Tomoyo asked Eriol.

Not knowing what she was talking about, he asked. "Sakura and Syaoran… I mean, I'm not hoping that it won't… But, you know… I just don't want Syaoran hurting Sakura." Tomoyo explained.

"Tomoyo…" Eriol started as he got up now facing Tomoyo, "I don't think Syaoran would hurt Sakura. If you must know but not tell Sakura, even before he left, he already cared about her. He just didn't know. He just thought that it was some brotherly love… You know, like Touya's protectiveness over Sakura…"

"I just hope you're right… I really have a bad feeling about this… You know… With Kaji back… I just hope Syaoran could protect her that much now…"

Before Eriol could answer her question, a soft knock on the door was heard. Both of them just looked at the door as if knowing that the person who knocked would know that they knew that he or she was there. Fortunately, the door cracked open a little revealing Sakura in one of the aprons in the kitchen. "Hey… It's time to eat…" she said with a smile on her face.

No, Sakura didn't hear anything that they had talked about. Though, that's what Tomoyo and Eriol thought. That was why when Sakura had left the door opened when she retreated back to the kitchen to help Syaoran with the cleaning; they had felt guilty about saying those exact words, especially Kaji.

o ------------------------------------------- o

When Sakura had returned to the kitchen from calling Tomoyo and Eriol at their room, she had found the kitchen clean. Scanning the room, she slowly removed her apron seeing that she wasn't going to do any work anymore. "Syao?"

Syaoran was at the back door that led outside. He was sweeping the kitchen. When he heard Sakura call him, he had scooped the dirt wit the dustpan, left it by the door and walked towards the kitchen where Sakura was hanging her apron. "Hey… Called them?"

She nodded at her question. But, he knew that she was surprised to see the messy kitchen from a while ago to something that was so clean. "You did all this?"

"Obviously…" he said, sarcastically as he walked towards Sakura.

"Thanks…" she replied with a smile.

"Hey, no big…"

Tomoyo and Eriol were now on their way to the kitchen. Eriol had chosen this moment to talk to them seeing that they were already talking. He just wanted to keep up with things. "Hey! What's t—" he had said before he could see the kitchen. "Oh. My. God. What happened to this place? And wow!" he asked, entering the kitchen seeing that it was also dust free! And the food that was prepared on the table.

"What's the matter?" Tomoyo had asked when she heard Eriol and saw him enter. Now, when Tomoyo had saw the kitchen, her eyes grew, as if she saw a ghost.

The kitchen was not only dust free, the utensils and seasonings were also arranged perfectly. If possible, everything was shining! "Did an angel pass by and fix this place and cook the food or what?" she had asked.

"Hey, don't ask me… I just cooked and set the table." Sakura started. Then she pointed at Syaoran, "He did the cleaning."

Tomoyo and Eriol both looked at Syaoran. "I would die to have you as my husband." Tomoyo commented.

"Hey!" Eriol said.

"But, I don't think that's possible seeing that we are both in a relationship… Just call me when you and Sakura break up…" she said jokingly. "But then again," she had once again started when they had all settled in the table. She now looked at Eriol by the side of her eye, "I don't think anyone could replace him."

Now, Eriol had a grin written all over his face. He was still happy to have Tomoyo even though she loved doing that.

"Shall we?" Sakura asked as she was pointing to the food.

They all nodded and said in unison, "Itadakimas…"

"Wow! Look at all the food!" Tomoyo said. But before she could get one of the Chinese things, she asked, "Please tell me that Syaoran was in charge of these Chinese…"

Sakura looked at her with a pout. Tomoyo knew until the end that Sakura really wasn't able to get the taste of Chinese food. It is, of course, a bit different from Japanese food. "I took care of that…" Syaoran said after he chuckled from Sakura's reaction.

"Hey… I'm sorry I wasn't able to get it…" Sakura replied as she served herself with some of the food that Syaoran had prepared.

They all laughed afterwards. Tomoyo and Eriol were both the victims of Sakura's Chinese meals. Unfortunately, all of them went down to the trash as they both didn't think that it was good. Even Touya was a victim. But, he really wasn't a nice audience as he actually spitted out what he had placed on his mouth and said, "Are you trying to poison me! I know that I haven't been a nice brother to you… But please! Spare me a life!" and walked out the room with a worried expression unknown to the three who were at the kitchen.

Sakura didn't take any of that seriously. She just knew that she lacked practice and that maybe someday, Touya would even help her. Though the time didn't come that Touya help her, but, day by day, her cooking was improving until she had finally gave up because she didn't have enough budget for it anymore.

o ------------------------------------------- o

After dinner, Eriol and Tomoyo had volunteered to wash the dishes. Sakura and Syaoran had now retreated to their room. Upon entering the room, Sakura had told Syaoran that she'll be the first to take the shower. As usual, he agreed. While waiting for her, he was recalling the day's incident. He was really going to have that guy's neck if he made a move with Sakura.

o ------------------------------------------- o

When Eriol and Tomoyo had finished what they have volunteered to do, they had both retreated to their room as well.

Just as they got in, Tomoyo was once again feeling paranoid. It was like she knew that something was definitely going to happen, and it wasn't something that they would like.

"Eriol… I'm really being paranoid… What if something happens to Sakura… I—"

"Honey… I don't feel safe with this as well… I feel that Sakura is being watched, even now. But, I really don't know what to do either. Let's just really, really hope that Li would protect her. I too am bothered the way Kaji showed up today." Eriol said, interrupting Tomoyo. "You know that I feel that I have to protect Sakura when Syaoran isn't around. I think that I'm feel what Touya feels towards Sakura, you know? She's like a little sister to me that I never had…"

Tomoyo knew this. She knew that Eriol had felt that way about Sakura. She too did. Sakura was like her sister that she didn't have. That was why they were protecting her, for what ever cost…

Being really good friends, this problem that Sakura had didn't affect their relationship. This is the problem of others that they shouldn't even be paranoid about. But, they had known Kaji and thought that Sakura still isn't safe in Paris even though it was already far. They had to do something about it and fast. But what…?

"If Li doesn't protect her, I'm going to have to hang him upside down, do you get me Eriol?" Tomoyo said a bit fierce. Hey, she was only concerned about her best friend and cousin.

"Not a problem for me." He said, trying to comfort her, "Just as we do it together."

o ------------------------------------------- o

Just as Sakura remerged from the bathroom a few minutes later wearing cotton pajamas as they were warmer, Syaoran followed suit. She wasn't at all sleepy so she decided to grab the thickest coat that she had and pulled them on and opened the door to the balcony. She walked outside and stared at the view once again.

When Syaoran had stepped out of the bathroom with a pair of cotton pajamas as well, he saw that the door to the balcony was open and saw Sakura outside. He had hung his towel, grabbed his jacket and walked towards the door, looking at Sakura.

Feeling that someone was watching her, Sakura looked around to see that it was Syaoran. She smiled at him before looking back to the view.

"You still not sleepy?" he asked as he walked closer and slowly.

"Not that much… I just wanted to see this for one last time before we leave tomorrow." She said, still looking at the view.

When Syaoran had finally reached her, he hugged her from behind and rested his left cheek to her right cheek.

Feeling his eyes drop; Syaoran pushed himself away from her slowly. Then he whispered to her ear, "Good night…"

Hearing this, Sakura replied before Syaoran could leave, "Good night, Syaoran."

After a few minutes, Sakura then decided to join Syaoran in bed. As soon as she had tucked herself in, she stared at the ceiling and thought some things over, like her family back in Japan.

o ------------ TOMOEDA -------------- o

Fujitaka was at the hospital keeping an eye on Touya. A few days after Sakura and the others left, he had gone weaker. Reason is still unknown to Fujitaka and the others but Touya knew well that he wasn't going to last longer than he was expected to.

Touya had fainted a few days ago and was immediately brought to the hospital as he was with Yukito and Nakuru that time. As soon as they had arrived in the hospital, Yukito had called Fujitaka who happened to be in a seminar. But, he couldn't just ignore his son. Besides, the seminar was about to be over so he had listened for a few more minutes, still worried about his son. As soon as the seminar ended, he had packed his notebook in a hurry and had left the place.

And now, Touya was growing weaker by the minute. Touya had told the doctors not to tell Fujitaka and the others about his condition for he just didn't want them to spend a lot of money. Chemotherapy is just way too expensive. Plus, it would just add them pain to see him suffering. He just wanted it to be over and leave his sister to the brat and his father to his sister. He knew that none of those he had trusted would disappoint him.

"Touya, what is wrong? Please tell us…" Yukito had begged once again.

"It's nothing… Maybe I just wasn't healthy enough to wall climb, the reason why after we touched the ground I fainted." He explained as a part true and a part lie.

It was true that he wasn't healthy enough to wall climb. But, it wasn't true that he just fainted because of that. His sickness was getting the best of him. If he would have been more careful and not do anything extreme, he would have made it to his expected date.

o ------------------------------------------- o

By the thought of her family, Sakura then rolled around to face Syaoran but she didn't look at him. She just stared at the wall behind him.

Syaoran then held her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. "Something wrong?" Syaoran asked as he noticed Sakura looking worried.

Surprised that he was still awake, Sakura now looked at him and hugged him back and snuggled closer to him. "Nothing… I was just thinking about Touya and the others. Wondering what they are doing right now…" she said.

At the mention of Touya's name, Syaoran suddenly remembered the conversation he had with him a few days before they left.

o -------------FLASHBACK------------ o

"_There's only one thing that I want to tell you, brat. You are the only one on my list. There's no one else that cares for my sister like the way I see you do… Take very good care of her, alright!" he demanded._

"_H-hai!" Syaoran said not knowing what to say. Did he just entrust Sakura to him!_

o -------END OF FLASHBACK------ o

He really thought that it was all a dream. Touya, who hated him, had entrusted Sakura to him. What the heck is going on?

"I bet they miss you…" he said trying to comfort Sakura even though he had no idea what he was talking about.

Sakura smiled. Then she looked at Syaoran and said, "I hope they're alright…"

Hoping to cheer her up more, Syaoran had leaned on for a kiss and then he said "They will be, as long as you are…" then he had kissed her once more, this time, more passionate.

o ------------------------------------------- o

"You will be mine Sakura… You just wait…"

Even though they were already at the very top of the building, someone was still watching our precious cherry blossom until the time she had retreated back to their room. This time, she wasn't able to feel it.

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** And so there you go… Another record… A ten-paged chapter, according to MS Word. (smile) Well, anyway, I hope that you guys continue supporting this story… Thought I only have a few who review, but I still love that fact that someone actually reads and tells me what they think about it. So please, don't stop posting reviews as I love them even though they maybe flames (sweat-drop)

Anyway, I'm working on the next chapter right now... And I'm hoping to post it a week later... So... That's it for this chapter...

Please, review and tell me what you think…


	11. Touya's Spirit

**CHAPTER ELEVEN: TOUYA'S SPIRIT**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Hey! I'm really sorry for the delay of this chapter… I got a totally long period of writer's block for this story and wasn't able to write anything since then. And so, here's the 11th chapter… Hope you guys find it good…

o- DragonKnight  
o- Musette Fuijiwara  
o- cloudsinthesky

Anyway, on with the story…

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Card Captor Sakura

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**LAST CHAPTER:**

"_You will be mine Sakura… You just wait…"_

_Even though they were already at the very top of the building, someone was still watching our precious cherry blossom until the time she had retreated back to their room. This time, she wasn't able to feel it._

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

It was once again another day for the four and it was time for them to leave this city which they had grown to love. Especially with all the things that had happened which they never expected. This city had especially brought love to their hearts and troubles as well. But, nothing can ever replace the times which they had together with their loved ones.

As the lights opened in Sakura and Syaoran's room, their consciousness were awoken by the sudden light that touched their eyes. Not wanting to wake up, Sakura had dug her head to the nearest thing that could prevent her eyes to feel the light. "Shut it light out…" she mumbled.

Syaoran, on the other hand, did the same. He dug his head to the nearest thing that could keep his eyes off the light and mumbled, "Turn the damn thing off…"

Not wanting to disturb the two with their unknown position to each other, Tomoyo had it videoed as Eriol chuckled and left them alone, with the lights still on.

Irritated by the light that was clearly wasn't shut off, Syaoran groaned. Now he was really awake but his eyes were still closed. Fully awake and could almost feel his surroundings even though he couldn't see it, he felt something warm with which he had his arms around. He had also smelt a scent of cherry blossoms. Slowly, he opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was a lock of hazelnut hair. Second, he had noticed that he didn't have any shirt on which was why he felt cold and the only thing that kept him warm was the arm that was around him, his pair of pajamas that stayed, and the comforter that covered them.

Now, it was Sakura's time to groan even though her eyes didn't much touch the light. It had disturbed her sleep and now, she couldn't sleep back. She loved the warm feeling of arms around her shoulders, which was why she was determined to sleep more. But, she did wonder whose arms were those. Opening her eyes slowly, she finally remembered that Syaoran had exchanged rooms with Tomoyo days before. She then noticed that she was lying on Syaoran's chest. She looked up to see Syaoran looking at her and noticing that she was awake, he smiled. Then she noticed that she was only wearing her tank top and pair of pajamas. Clearly, they didn't do anything! Maybe they just went a bit further but didn't do it.

Lucky for them, Tomoyo and Eriol didn't see that their tops were gone for they might have murdered Syaoran.

"Morning…" Sakura said before yawning, her arms still around Syaoran's waist.

"Morning, Ying Fa…" Syaoran replied with yet another smile and gave her a kiss. After breaking the kiss, he rolled around to make himself on top of Sakura with his balance dependent on his elbows that were resting on the sides of Sakura's head.

"What do you think are you doing?" Sakura asked with a giggled as she attempted to push Syaoran off her with her hands on his chest.

Before answering her question, Syaoran had kissed her once again. Then he replied as her broke the kiss, "I was thinking of having some fun…" and then he brushed off some strands of hair that was covering Sakura's face.

"No fun today Li…" Eriol said as he had opened the door. He had already knocked a few times hearing them talking softly from outside. But, no one answered and he had assumed that they didn't hear him. Taking all his guts in, he had opened the door hoping that he didn't walk into something. Luckily, he didn't. "We leave this building in an hour. Get ready. Breakfast is ready as well." He continued before leaving them and retreating back to the kitchen.

o ------------------------------------------- o

"Please tell me they didn't do anything… Hiiragizawa, I just hope that you didn't see anything you weren't supposed to see in there… Cause if you did, Syaoran is dead." Tomoyo said as Eriol walked back to the kitchen as they prepared their breakfast. This time, since breakfast food was simple to cook, they were able to cook without any trouble.

"I didn't. Syaoran was just planning on doing something… But I did notice that Syaoran didn't have his shirt on…" he explained as he walked closer to the table and had it set.

Upon hearing his last statement, Tomoyo turned around from the stove where she was breaking eggs to make sunny-side-up eggs, with her mouth dropped open. "What!" she exclaimed. "Where is that Li… I am so going to kill him!" she said.

"Calm down… Nothing happened…" Eriol said which did calm Tomoyo down.

And there they go again. Their sibling love to Sakura had once again sprouted… If you ask me, more like the Touya way of loving Sakura…

o ------------------------------------------- o

"Aw… He's no fun…" Syaoran said as he rolled off Sakura and sat up. As soon as he did this, Sakura sat up and looked at him.

Sighing and not for disappointment but for thanks to Eriol, Sakura then looked at the clock. It was indeed time for them to go. It was already seven thirty and they were still at bed. "No wonder Eriol just barged in the room." Sakura said as she stood up and walked towards their packed things. They had already taken out the clothes that they were going to wear for the day before they had locked up their suit cases. She then grabbed her clothes and went straight to the bathroom to take her bath.

Syaoran, on the other hand, laid down the bed again. Due to the talk that he and Sakura had the night before, his mind came back to Touya. What is happening to him and why did he suddenly entrust Sakura to him… Everything was still a blur to him and he's got no clue for that particular weirdness.

A few minutes later, Sakura walked out the bathroom, fully dressed but still had the towel with her as she was drying her hair. This time, she was wearing a khaki skirt that went down her knees, a light blue tank top that went down her waist and a pair of white rubber shoes with white socks that had the color of light blue by the ankles.

"Okay, your turn…" she said as she kneeled down her suitcase and started to fix her things.

After fixing her things, Sakura grabbed a clean hand towel and attempted to dry her hair while she waited for Syaoran to finish taking a bath.

Just as the door of the bathroom opened, Sakura's hair was already dry and blow dried. She looked at Syaoran who had his towel around his neck and was wearing a pair of baggy jeans and a white shirt that had black prints.

"Ne, ne, Syaoran… Why don't we go back to that store before we leave…" Sakura suggested.

Before leaning in to his suitcase, Syaoran looked at her and tried to analyze what store she was talking about. A few seconds later, he was able to get it. "No way, Sakura. What if that freak guy is there….? You know, I made a promise that I would take care of you. So I'm letting that promise be broken by just seeing that freak." He replied and then leaned in to his suitcase.

Sakura pouted at Syaoran's comment. But, one thing that comes to her mind was, who told him to take care of her…? _Dad…?_ Was the only person that came into her mind that very minute. But while she was watching him fix his things, she remembered the time that Touya wanted to talk to Syaoran alone.

After a few minutes, Sakura and Syaoran had left their rooms and went out for breakfast only to see that Eriol and Tomoyo's stuff were already at the living room and was ready to do. "You guys are so eager to leave this place, aren't you…" Sakura commented.

"Hell, yeah!" Tomoyo said. "After that incident with Kaji, I was more than eager to leave this place. I'm willing to drag you guys out of this place if it was the last thing I'd do…" Eriol said in his, once again, over protective voice.

"Something tells me that Touya's spirit is with us and Eriol's was left with Touya's body…" Sakura said as they all sat on the table and started to eat.

"Yeah… What is it with you Eriol… How come you're too protective of Sakura…?" Syaoran asked.

Tomoyo, as she grabbed a few pieces bacon from the plate, replied to them. "Hey, don't look at me. I didn't do anything." Then she continued. "Maybe they switched places before we left…"

Everyone then started to laugh thinking that that was impossible.

What's impossible if the person that they were talking about just died a few minutes ago…

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **There… What'cha guys think…? Hope it doesn't suck… Aww… Poor Touya… I'll get back to him by the next chapter, alright…? So, please review… review and review for me to know what you think….


	12. The Ink Bottle

**CHAPTER TWELVE: THE INK BOTTLE**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Hey! I'm so sorry for not updating for AGES! I've been so busy with school and everything and I got a very very long writer's block so even though I wanted to continue the chapter before, I couldn't think of anything to put. Now that I'm off school for the holidays, I was able to continue it… So anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter… By the way, thanks to the following who reviewed the past chapter:

o- Boheme  
o- FFxKHxLove  
o- Musette Fuijiwara  
o- sakura li 19  
o- Takagouzawa Hikari-san

Anyway, on with the story…

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Card Captor Sakura

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**LAST CHAPTER:**

"_Something tells me that Touya's spirit is with us and Eriol's was left with Touya's body…" Sakura said as they all sat on the table and started to eat._

"_Yeah… What is it with you Eriol… How come you're too protective of Sakura…?" Syaoran asked._

_Tomoyo, as she grabbed a few pieces bacon from the plate, replied to them. "Hey, don't look at me. I didn't do anything." Then she continued. "Maybe they switched places before we left…"_

_Everyone then started to laugh thinking that that was impossible._

_What's impossible if the person that they were talking about just died a few minutes ago…_

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

Fujitaka was knocking Touya's door. Dinner was ready and he was calling him. He knows that he's there because he heard a thump just a few minutes ago thinking that he slipped because of his messy room or that something fell.

"Touya… It's dinner time." Fujitaka once again called in.

True, he did slip because of his messy room. But that just complicated things more. That was what had triggered his illness to get the best of him. He had an attack and no one knew, of course he told no one, how can anyone know…

Just an hour ago, he was writing his farewells. He knew that he was going soon. But he didn't expect that it was that soon.

Fed up that his son wasn't answering, Fujitaka opened the door only to find Touya lying on the ground with pieces of papers all over his room. "Touya!" he yelled running to his body.

o ------------------------------------------- o

Suddenly, Sakura stopped laughing. It was like, something within her had hurt or something was suddenly missing. She held her chest and wondered what it might be. Syaoran noticed this. Soon, he stopped laughing as well and asked her, "Is something wrong?"

Eriol and Tomoyo soon stopped as well seeing that Sakura didn't look to good.

"Huh?" she asked as she looked at all of them. "No… It's nothing. I just feel like something is missing inside of me…" _Oh dear God… I just hope Touya and the others are alright…_

Syaoran looked more worried than Sakura thinking what she was feeling. He wrapped his arm around her and said, "You sure…?"

Not wanting to spoil any fun, Sakura smiled and had the urge to regain her energy. "Yeah! I'm fine…" she said and smiled at them. "Come on. We better get going. We might miss our flight." She said, although of course, she wasn't fine at all.

As they got to the airport, they walked towards the counter as they all chatted happily. Sakura had somehow forgotten about the bad feeling that she had earlier.

o ------------ TOMOEDA -------------- o

Touya was lying at the ground, his work papers scattered everywhere. Fujitaka was downstairs, calling an ambulance to take him to the hospital and get him checked-up. For all they know, it was already too late.

o -------------FLASHBACK------------ o

Touya was working on his resume to submit for his next job since he just resigned on his previous one. He wanted something that can help him support his family, until the last day.

Print. Print. Print.

He was printing a lot of things. Until he was satisfied with the output of his resume, he wouldn't stop.

Suddenly, he felt his heart palpitate and he was having a hard time breathing. It's like he was having a heart attack. He held onto his chest and struggled through the pain thinking that it was just another one of his mild attacks. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't a mild one.

It got a lot worse as time passed. He couldn't breathe anymore. He thought it would go away any minute. No, he couldn't die now. He still had to tell his father about this. About everything. He still had to help his family, support them until his last breathe for he knew he really won't stay longer than 3 months.

The next minutes, he couldn't handle the pain. He slide off his chair and slowly laid down on the floor. He wanted to write his goodbye notes on a piece of paper. Who knew that the pieces of papers and the pen that he threw on the floor would be so handy at this time. Slowly, he grabbed them, taking his time so as to be able to finish it.

_Otou-san, Sakura-chan,_

_Sorry… I wasn't able to te-_

That was it. He had collapsed on the floor, leaving that note. That single word which they wouldn't know why he was telling them _sorry _when he didn't do anything wrong.

Ink stains were all over the floor as the ink bottle that he had bought a few years back for display suddenly fell down from his shelf. It was on a ready-to-fall pace anyway. Why choose this time to fall down…?

His writing was half covered by the ink. All that was left was the word sorry.

o -------END OF FLASHBACK------ o

"TOUYA!" Fujitaka yelled as they got into the hospital. He didn't know what was wrong with his son. He was just healthy and laughing that morning. What could have been the problem…

A few minutes later, the doctor left the emergency room, his head bowed down.

At that point in time, Fujitaka was devastated. He was crying, similar to when his wife died. He walked closer to the doctor as he had tears flowing out of his eyes. "What's his diagnosis…? He was just laughing this morning…"

o ------------------------------------------- o

Not recalling her previous worry about home, while they were at the plane, Sakura suddenly had tears falling out from her eyes.

Syaoran, on the other hand, didn't fail to notice this since he was just beside her. "Sakura." He asked.

Looking at Syaoran, not knowing that she had tears escaping from her eyes, she said, "Anything wrong?" with a smile. She wasn't faking the smile.

Worry look had crossed Syaoran's face. She didn't know what was wrong with her. She had been like this since this morning. What might have happened in Japan, they didn't know. All he knew what that when they land, the first thing that he's going to do was to call there and ask.

Slowly, Syaoran reached out for Sakura's eyes and wiped out the tears using his thumbs. Sakura was then surprised. What was he wiping? It wasn't until she felt water from his thumbs. "Sakura… Are you sure you're alright…?"

"Tears..?" Sakura said as she touched her cheek.

o ------------ TOMOEDA -------------- o

"He had an attack…" the doctor said.

Surprise at what the doctor had said, Fujitaka suddenly raised his head. "Attack..? What attack..? He didn't tell me that he was sick!"

"Unfortunately sir, he had leukemia and he had an attack today. If you could have gone to him any sooner, he might have made it." The doctor explained.

"Leukemia..? He had leukemia..?" he asked.

"Do you know anyone from either your side of the family or your wife's who had leukemia?" the doctor asked. "Just for record purposes…"

Fujitaka slowly bent his head and looked down. Tears had once again started escaping from his eyes and he was trying to wipe them out. "M… Na… Nadeshiko had it… My wife died because of leukemia…" He said slowly, not wanting to remember how his wife died.

o -------------FLASHBACK------------ o

It was a lovely day and the Kinomoto family was out for a picnic at the park. As Touya and Sakura were playing in the field, Fujitaka and Nadeshiko were both talking happily about their children as they sat at their picnic mat.

They were both talking about the future of both their children. "I'm pretty sure that Touya will become super protective of Sakura to the point that he'll scare of every guy that tries to come near her…" Fujitaka commented. They both laughed at that comment when suddenly, Nadeshiko felt dizzy and fainted a few minutes later.

Worried about his wife, Fujitaka hurriedly called Touya and Sakura and he carried Nadeshiko from the mat and they all ran to the nearest hospital which happens to be only a block away. All of them ran together. They had left all their picnic stuff at the picnic grounds not caring if someone would steal them. Hey, saving a loved ones life is more important than those things.

As they reached the hospital, Nadeshiko was hurriedly placed into a stretcher and was examined by the doctors. She was then diagnosed with leukemia. At that rate, she was said to be in coma already.

Symptoms? She had them. But, when she did, no one was with her. Sakura and Touya was in school and Fujitaka was in work. She was alone in their house. She didn't bother to tell them so as not to bother them anymore.

o -------END OF FLASHBACK------ o

"This can't be true!!" Fujitaka yelled out. He was furious. He had already lost two of his loved ones due to leukemia; and he's not about to lose another one. Even though he was crying, he grabbed his celphone and dialed Sakura's number.

"_The number you dialed is either unattended or out of the coverage area. Please try your call later."_

Sakura was on the plane. She had to turn her celphone off.

He couldn't reach her. He had suddenly lost hope. Fujitaka then sat at the chairs behind him and started to cry once again.

o ------------------------------------------- o

"Yeah… I'm alright… Syao, I'm really worried about home…" she said as a reply to Syaoran.

"Alright… As soon as we get off the plane, call your dad, alright?" Syaoran said suddenly starting to worry as well.

At that comment, Sakura smiled to her boyfriend and leaned on his shoulders. "Thanks Syao…"

o ------------------------------------------- o

**Flight number A246 – Arrived**

As soon as Sakura and the others arrived in Paris, they got all their baggage. The time they arrived at the hotel, Sakura quickly got her celphone and dialed their phone number at home. After a few minutes, no one was answering, she called Touya's phone.

"_The subscriber cannot be reached. Please try your call later."_

Last was her father. She didn't want to disturb him if ever he was doing something so she had made him the last resort.

After a few rings, her father finally answered.

"Sakura! Oh my gawd. I've been trying to contact you for the past how many hours..." Fujitaka said as he answered the phone.

"Hi dad. Is everything alright? Why were you trying to contact me?" Sakura replied. Now, she was sitting on their bed as Syaoran was getting all their baggage. He was sweet to volunteer on getting Sakura's as well as she called at home.

"Sakura… Touya… He's…" Fujitaka started. He couldn't finish his sentence; who you… He's still in shock.

Upon the mention of Touya's name, Sakura froze. "What about Touya…?" she asked. As she had asked that, Syaoran came in hearing what she asked. Curious, he placed the baggage that he has on the floor and sat beside Sakura wrapping his arm around his waist.

Fujitaka had started crying again. "He's dead, Sakura…" he mumbled; though it was enough for Sakura to hear.

As she heard what her father said, tears immediately fell from her eyes. She was staring straight; her celphone was still in her ear. She was so speechless; she didn't know how to react. "Touya…" she said once again. "Um… Dad… I-I'll call you later, alright… T-take care of yourself. I'll be home as soon as I can…" Sakura said. She didn't even wait for her father to reply, she had ended the call.

"Sakura… What's wrong…?" Syaoran asked.

"Touya… He's… He's…" Sakura said. As she tried to finish the sentence, more tears started to flow out of her eyes if possible. Syaoran tried to wipe her tears as he touched her cheeks. Seeing that she wasn't stopping, he held the back of her head and had her rest her head on his chest. "Shhh…" he said trying to calm her down. "Tell me when you're ready, alright…? Don't force yourself…" Sakura continued to cry on his chest.

Thirty minutes later, Sakura had fallen asleep. Syaoran stared at Sakura worriedly. He then carried her and laid her down on the bed so that she can be comfortable. After kissing her forehead, he grabbed his celphone and dialed a number.

After a few rings, a person answered it. "Yo bro! 'Sup?"

"Yamazaki… I need you to do something for me…" Syaoran said.

"Sure thing Syaoran… What is it?" Yamazaki said sensing the seriousness on Syaoran's voice.

"I need you to grab all files you can find have about a certain Kaji. I'm still going to ask his last name but-"

"It's Phillips." Tomoyo said interrupting Syaoran.

Syaoran looked by the door seeing Tomoyo there on her way to the sleeping Sakura. "Phillips Kaji." He said on the phone. "I believe he was Sakura's ex-boyfriend around four years ago…"

"Phillips Kaji…? He was our classmate before he left for Venice… He's a nice guy… Why hunt him Syaoran?" Yamazaki said on the other end.

"I believe his 'nice' personality is a fake. Anyway, contact me for anything you find." Syaoran said.

"Sure thing. But I still don't get it Syaoran…"

"He's out to get Sakura, Yamazaki. And I'm not letting him do that. Anyway, I got to go. Bye…"

"Sure. I'll contact you for any information." Yamazaki said finally then they both hung the phone.

"Hunting for Kaji or wanting to know about him more…?" Tomoyo said. She was now sitting beside Sakura stroking her head. She still has no idea what happened.

Turning around to face both Tomoyo and sleeping Sakura, he said "Both. I can't let him pass seeing as what he has done to Sakura, even though it was already in the past. He may have something to do about Touya. I still have no idea what happened back at Tomoeda for the mean time. But he may have something to do with it."

"Touya? Why…? What happened to Touya?" Tomoyo asked.

Syaoran walked closer to Sakura while he said, "I still don't know. All I know is that something happened to him causing Sakura to be like this since that night she started to cry in Rome."

Tomoyo then looked down at her best friend that was sleeping. "Syaoran, do me a favor and keep her safe. I'm still not convinced that Kaji won't be here as well. We never know…" she said looking at her best friend's boyfriend.

"Tomoyo, even though you don't tell me that and even though Kaji isn't around, I will protect Sakura, whatever happens." Syaoran said as he now started to stroke Sakura's hair.

From looking at Syaoran seriously, Tomoyo now had a weak smile on her face. "I'll leave you two. Promise you'll tell me what happened to Touya when she tells you…"

Syaoran now looked at Tomoyo and smiled at her before she left the room. After Tomoyo had closed the door, Syaoran looked back at Sakura who, as if on cue, opened her eyes.

"Syaoran…" Sakura said.

"Hey… How are you…?" Syaoran asked.

Sakura now sat up, facing Syaoran still. "I'm fine…" she replied. Then she sighed and still looked sad. "I know what you're thinking… What happened to Touya, right?" she said.

"I was wondering if I would ask you that now… But I thought I should wait… You know… You might still be in shock or something…" Syaoran confessed.

She tried not to face Syaoran now. Her eyes were starting to tear again. "Now that I've cried my eyes out, I thought I won't cry anymore…" she started. Then she felt Syaoran's hands on her cheeks, wiping her tears out again. "Sakura… You don't have to tell me now if you can't… I can wait you know…" he said his has line sarcastically.

That made Sakura chuckle a bit. Then she faced Syaoran and finally said, "Touya's dead Syao…" More tears then started to fall out from her eyes. She was crying again.

He never thought Sakura would tell him that that fast especially that Touya's her brother. But, I guess she just trusts him so much that she was so honest to him even though what she was telling him was something that totally hurt her.

"Syaoran… I know that we just got here… But I wanna go home… I want to make sure dad's alright… I want to see Touya… I want to-"

"Shhh… We'll go home… I'll get tickets tomorrow alright…?" Syaoran said as he once again held Sakura and hugged her tightly as she once again sobbed.

"But... What about your vacation…? I don't want to ruin it Syao…"

"My vacation is nothing without you… I'll go with you alright… Besides, I want to say something to Touya…"

True, he did want to say something to Touya. He wanted to promise upon his body that he will protect his sister, even until death.

"Syaoran… Arigato…" Sakura said, crying once again. Even though she knows that, before, a combination of Syaoran and Touya would mean a mess, she was still glad that even before he left, they were alright.

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** So? How was the chapter? Sloppy right… I still haven't gotten over my writer's block… So yeah… Sloppy chapter… Anyway, please review and tell me what you think of the story so far… I hope you guys liked this chapter… I'm not sure when I can update for the next chapter… But I'll try to update it A.S.A.P. before classes start. smile


	13. I Have Him

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN: I HAVE HIM**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Wha! I am so sorry for not updating this story for a long, long, long time… I was so caught up with **Hanging on for Hope** and my offline life… Anyway, here's the next chapter. By the way, this story is about to end as I am running out of ideas for this story…

So anyway, thanks to the following for the review,

o- jenjengal

o- FFxKHxLove

o- Musette Fuijiwara

Anyway, on with the story…

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Card Captor Sakura

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**LAST CHAPTER:**

"_Syaoran… I know that we just got here… But I wanna go home… I want to make sure dad's alright… I want to see Touya… I want to-"_

"_Shhh… We'll go home… I'll get tickets tomorrow alright…?" Syaoran said as he once again held Sakura and hugged her tightly as she once again sobbed._

"_But... What about your vacation…? I don't want to ruin it Syao…"_

"_My vacation is nothing without you… I'll go with you alright… Besides, I want to say something to Touya…"_

_True, he did want to say something to Touya. He wanted to promise upon his body that he will protect his sister, even until death._

"_Syaoran… Arigato…" Sakura said, crying once again. Even though she knows that, before, a combination of Syaoran and Touya would mean a mess, she was still glad that even before he left, they were alright._

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

It was a new day for them and another new city to explore. Sadly, two were never able to smell the city of Paris. A sudden incident had occurred a while back and one of them had to come home. Naturally, he boyfriend wouldn't allow her alone.

**FLASHBACK**

After talking about leaving the next day, Sakura and Syaoran left the room and talked to Eriol and Tomoyo about their situation.

"Tomoyo-chan… Eriol-kun… Gomen-ne… But I have to go home tomorrow… Touya… He just… He…" Sakura tried to finish. She still wasn't' able to digest the words that were invested to her by her father just a few minutes ago.

Seeing this, Syaoran placed an arm around her as she had once again started to sob. He started rubbing her shoulders after whispering something to her, and he continued her sentence. "He's gone."

With those words, Tomoyo had gasped and had covered her mouth with her hands. Eriol on the other hand starred at Syaoran for a few seconds before standing up and pacing behind the sofa.

"What?" Tomoyo asked after she had finally absorbed the news; although, she didn't want to believe in it, even though it was Sakura who said it. "Wait, what happened to Touya?"

"I don't know… Dad just called me and said the news." Sakura said trying to fight back her tears. "Mo-chan, Eriol-kun… I have to go home..." she continued as she looked up to Tomoyo and to Eriol.

"Saku-chan… I understand… We can all go home together…" Eriol said as he finally calmed down and sat beside Tomoyo. He was the only one, except for Syaoran, who had now digested the news.

"No! I don't want to ruin your vacation… You guys can go on through the tour. Pretend that nothing happened. Pretend that we're still here, but not in the same place as you guys… Neither did I want to ruin Syaoran's but he insisted on coming home…" Sakura explained.

"Demu, Sakura-chan…" Tomoyo said trying to sound insisting enough to take them as well.

"Mo-chan… Daijoubu desu… I'll call you guys as soon as we get there. Dad already knows that I'll be home as soon as possible… The sooner I can leave the better, right?" Sakura said, now her tears were flowing down her cheeks.

Finally understanding the situation, Tomoyo and Eriol finally agreed. They would go on with their vacation as if nothing had happened back at Japan. As if nothing is wrong. As if, no one looks suspicious.

The next day, Eriol and Tomoyo left early to enjoy their trip. Before leaving, they had peeked inside Sakura and Syaoran's room. They were no longer there. But, they did leave a note for them. They found it by the bed. It wasn't easy to miss because it didn't blend with the color of the bed which was black. This sheet of paper was pink.

_Tomoyo and Eriol,_

_Sorry about the trouble that I may have caused you guys. As promised, we'll call you guys as soon as we get to Japan. For the mean time, please enjoy your vacation. Really sorry for ruining it if I did…_

_Take care…_

_Hugs and Kisses,_

_Sakura_

Once they had turned around to the night table, they found another letter. This time, it was a white sheet, obviously from the free paper of the hotel.

_Daidouji-san, Hiiragizawa-kun,_

_Don't worry about us. You know I'll never leave Sakura alone. I'll be with her no matter what and I'll be there for her, for you guys._

_Xiao Lang_

Tomoyo then sat on the bed as Eriol finished reading the letter. "I hope they will be alright… I have a bad feeling about this…" she said.

o ------------------------------------------- o

On the airport, Sakura and Syaoran were in line for check-in. Sakura was lost in thought and stared blankly in space. Syaoran was thinking as well.

Once they were ready to enter, Sakura caught a glimpse of someone very, very familiar to her; a necklace that was dangling from the hands of this person that was standing a few meters away from them, looking as if they had committed a crime of some sort. It was a necklace that Kaji gave to her before. After they had broken up, Sakura threw the necklace to him, hoping that she will forget about him, forever.

"S-Syaoran…" Sakura said as she looked at the blond haired guy that's now walking towards them.

Syaoran, as if it was an instinct, held Sakura's hands and stared at the person. "What do you want? Do you want me to call security?" he threatened.

Kaji walked closer and closer, not threatened by Syaoran's words. "Hello Sakura." He said as he was closer to them. "What a coincidence…" he continued.

"What coincidence are you talking about?" Sakura said as she looked from Syaoran's back.

Kaji then looked at the ceiling of the airport and said, "The coincidence that I'm here, you're here. Obviously, it's either you just came or… Oh no… Are you already leaving?" now looking at Sakura as he said his last sentence. "Actually, that's another coincidence because, I'm fly off as well. I'm just on my stop-over." He continued.

"What do you want?!" Syaoran said, now frustrated.

"What's wrong with a coincidence buddy?" he said.

"Nothing is coincidence." Sakura said.

"Planned another task, Kaji?" Syaoran said.

"I don't know what you are talking about. I'm flying off to Japan to visit my friends, that's all…" He tried to sound so innocent. But, no one passed Li Syaoran.

"What friends. All those so called friend of yours have turned their backs on you. They all know what you did." Sakura said back.

"Oh really… What ever did I do?" He said, still trying to act innocent.

"You know what you did." Syaoran said.

"Oh, so you know what I did as well?" Kaji asked.

"Who wouldn't." Sakura said coldly.

"Sakura, let's go. It's no use talking to this imbecile." Syaoran said as he tried to guide Sakura towards the gates.

"It's no use Sakura… There's no escape." Kaji said as if he was the devil.

o ------------ TOMOEDA -------------- o

"What do you think are you doing?!" a man yelled. He was mourning after his son's death. But, someone was trying to force him.

"Shut up!" another man yelled. They were inside a van, no one heard them. This guy then punched the other at the back of his head, leaving him unconscious.

o ------------------------------------------- o

On the airport, Sakura and Syaoran are now on the unloading of baggage the airport. They just arrived Tomoeda, Japan. Beside them was an annoying Kaji who did nothing but to threaten Sakura.

"Leave me alone!" Sakura yelled loud enough to be heard only by the three of them. "I don't want to have any more connections with you."

"Really now… How about, I say that someone has your father…" he said.

That alarmed both Sakura and Syaoran. They both looked at Kaji. Sakura's eyes started to water. Syaoran, not noticing this, had gone mad again. He had been keeping his anger inside him since the plane in Paris. "What did you do with him…" Syaoran asked him coldly. He didn't want to blow his top. Not right now that they are in the airport and security was strict.

"Like I said Sakura. Be with me and I'll take care of your father's kidnapping." Kaji said before he left them alone in the airport.

"Daddy…" Sakura said. Due to that and so much exhaustion , she had fainted in the arms of Syaoran.

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** So sorry for the short chapter… Anyway, I hope you guys liked the chapter…


End file.
